Alejandro Valverde went into stage 3 of the Vuelta a Espana with the goal of winning the stage but crash with 20km to go took him out of contention. Having started the final climb in a bad position, the Spaniard was not too concerned with a time loss of seven seconds but lamented the lost opportunity.
Australian Michael Matthews (OGE) is the new leader of the 2014 Vuelta a España after winning stage three, a long fraction of 197km starting at the Juan Carlos I aircraft carrier in Cádiz and finishing at a small uphill in Arcos de la Frontera, which was made even harder by intense heat and four climbs befor the end. Though the day was mainly calm - a five-man break served as launch pad for Spaniard Lluis Mas (CJR) who got the KOM points to later be caught in the flat before the finish - an incident with less than 20k remaining hit the Movistar Team, with three of their members crashing: Adriano Malori, Jonathan Castroviejo and then GC leader Alejandro Valverde.
While the Spaniard, with a blow in his back, got back on his bike quickly and kept the pace of the bunch, Malori and Castroviejo had to be assisted by the team and chose to continue the stage more calmly, with no bigger physical consequences than their team-mate. Still, stress by the incident took Valverde out of position in a really fast approach to the finish, not able to contend an unusual volata where Nairo Quintana, safely in the favourites' group, took 13th and kept 2nd overall, 4" behind Matthews - Valverde is now in 3rd, 11" back. The race will now head into Córdoba for chapter four, over 164km which will include the climbs of San Jerónimo (Cat-2) and Catorce por Ciento (Cat-2.)
"One of the team-mates in front of me crashed while trying to pick up a musette and I went to the ground, too," Valverde said. "More than sweeping the ground, it was a sharp blow, with no bruises: I hit a team-mate's bike and hit my back, but I could recover and go ahead.
"I started the climb well behind and because of that, I'm happy with the time I lost. Seven seconds is nothing. My back hurts a bit after the crash, but I hope it's not serious and I can recover well. I'm not feeling really sad after losing the jersey - it was more that I wanted to win this stage. I couldn't, but this is cycling, things like that happen and we must carry on."
29.03: La Route Adélie de VItré |
30.03: The Bueng Si Fai |
30.03: Gran Premio Miguel Indurain |
30.03: Volta Limburg Classic |
31.03: Ronde van Vlaanderen |
31.03: Ronde van Vlaanderen |
29.03 - 01.04: Ster van Zuid Limburg |
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Simon NUBER 33 years | today |
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Romain GUILLEMOIS 33 years | today |
Qingdong ZOU 33 years | today |
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