Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol 2017 – Stage 1 [FULL STAGE]

February 15, 2017
Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol 2017 – Stage 1– Rincón de la Victoria – Granada – 155 km

The Vuelta a Andalucía (Tour of Andalusia) or Ruta del Sol (Route of the Sun) is a regional Spanish road bicycle race first held in 1925. Since 2005, it has been a 2.1 category race on the UCI Europe Tour. The nickname, Ruta del Sol, is in reference to the region’s popular tourist coastline the Costa del Sol.

Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde won the first stage of the Ruta del Sol Wednesday in Granada. The 36-year-old Spaniard triumphed in a six-man sprint ahead of Team Sky’s Wout Poels and Sebastian Reichenbach (FDJ) at the end of a mountainous 155km day of racing in southern Spain.

Valverde attempted to solo clear of a select group going up and over the final climb of the day, but he adjusted his plan after being caught on the descent, taking a convincing win in the sprint.

“We couldn’t have started things off in a better way. For the time being, we’ve got a stage win – everything that comes after this is a gift for us,” Valverde said.

“We knew that Contador would be doing well, and he showed he was willing to fight when his team started to take the reigns of the peloton without asking anyone to help them out. He played his cards and really made the difference, yet we defended ourselves well. When we were the two of us alone at the front, it was complicated to keep pushing because his attacks left no room to breathe. Plus, there was a group with three Sky riders pulling, which made it difficult to escape.

“At the end, I decided to give it a try myself into the last slope and I opened a bit of a gap, but it was difficult to make it grow and finish solo, so I chose to wait for Ion and Alberto, who were coming close behind. I was keeping in mind that I was the fastest into such a field sprint, and at the end it was a good result for us – it’s the win that counts here.”

Berden De Vries (Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij), Georg Preidler (Team Sunweb), Daniel Turek (Israel Cycling Academy), Florian Senechal (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits), Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto Soudal), Pablo Torres Muiño (Burgos BH) and Kirill Sveshnikov (Gazprom-Rusvelo) formed the day’s main early escape group shortly after the peloton set out from Málaga.

The breakers worked their advantage up to around four and half minutes before the bunch began gradually reeling them in. The climber-friendly terrain saw cohesion break down in the lead group, and all of the breakaway riders were caught by the 34km to go mark, as the pack neared the foot of the decisive final climb of the stage.

Trek-Segafredo’s Alberto Contador unleashed a blistering attack on the early slopes of the ascent, initially opening up a gap before Valverde caught onto his wheel. Before long, they were joined by Poels, his Sky teammates Diego Rosa and Mikel Landa, Bahrain-Merida’s Ion Izagirre and Cannondale-Drapac’s Rigoberto Urán.

Landa was the next to strike, but his attack was short-lived. Contador attempted to get clear once again with around 20km left to go, but couldn’t shake the others at the head of the race. Then it was Valverde’s turn. The Spaniard broke free of the rest of the lead group near the summit and then began to extend his advantage on the descent. Contador soloed away from the others in hot pursuit.

With a little over 10km left to race, Contador made the catch. Then Rosa and Izagirre caught up as well. From there, the four riders mostly eyed each other, allowing Poels and Reichenbach to join with around 3km to go, setting up a six-man battle for the win.

As the pace picked up for the final sprint, Valverde was already at the front of the group with 200 metres to go. Poels tried coming around on his left but could not quite overtake the Movistar rider, allowing Valverde to nab the win at the finish line.

Valverde will take the race lead into a 177.9km stage 2, which runs from Torredonjimeno to the Alto Peña del Águila climb.

Results :
1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 4:02:28
2 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky
3 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) FDJ
4 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Sky
5 Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
6 Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
7 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ 0:00:05
8 Mikel Landa (Spa) Team Sky
9 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac
10 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Sunweb
11 Pieter Weening (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij 0:00:24
12 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Team Sky 0:00:31
13 Javier Moreno (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
14 Ondrej Cink (Cze) Bahrain-Merida
15 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:51
16 Huub Duijn (Ned) Veranda’s Willems Crelan 0:01:04
17 Oscar Riesebeek (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
18 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
19 Sindre Skjøstad Lunke (Nor) Team Sunweb
20 Floris De Tier (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
21 Eduard Prades (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
22 Marco Minnaard (Ned) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
23 David Belda (Spa) Burgos BH
24 Stef Clement (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
25 Sergey Firsanov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
26 Garikoitz Bravo Oiarbide (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
27 Michal Schlegel (Cze) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
28 Romain Sicard (Fra) Direct Energie
29 Bart De Clercq (Bel) Lotto Soudal
30 Sergio Pardilla (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
31 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Team Sunweb
32 Hugh Carthy (GBr) Cannondale-Drapac
33 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
34 Hector Saez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
35 Mikel Bizkarra Etxegibel (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
36 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team
37 André Cardoso (Por) Trek-Segafredo
38 David Lopez (Spa) Team Sky
39 Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:04:05
40 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
41 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
42 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
43 Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
44 Igor Merino (Spa) Burgos BH
45 Nick Van Der Lijke (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij 0:06:04
46 Krists Neilands (Lat) Israel Cycling Academy
47 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb
48 Jan Hirt (Cze) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
49 Steve Morabito (Swi) FDJ 0:07:01
50 Jerome Cousin (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
51 Victor De La Parte (Spa) Movistar Team
52 Eliot Lietaer (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
53 Martijn Budding (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
54 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal
55 Leszek Plucinski (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
56 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal
57 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team
58 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
59 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
60 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan 0:09:02
61 Jorge Cubero Galvez (Spa) Burgos BH 0:10:00
62 Edward Planckaert (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
63 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
64 Jérôme Baugnies (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
65 Anton Vorobyev (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
66 Maciej Paterski (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
67 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) FDJ
68 Kevin Deltombe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
69 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
70 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky
71 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Sunweb
72 Kristijan Koren (Slo) Cannondale-Drapac
73 Simon Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac
74 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
75 Otto Vergaerde (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan
76 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
77 Luis Lemus (Mex) Israel Cycling Academy 0:12:00
78 Felix Großschartner (Aut) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:12:02
79 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:13:03
80 Maxime Farazijn (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
81 Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
82 Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
83 Dennis Van Winden (Ned) Israel Cycling Academy
84 Moreno Hofland (Ned) Lotto Soudal
85 Martijn Keizer (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
86 Bram Tankink (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
87 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
88 Antonio Molina (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
89 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
90 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida
91 Diego Rubio (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
92 Jorge Arcas Peña (Spa) Movistar Team
93 Amaury Capiot (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
94 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky
95 Julien Morice (Fra) Direct Energie
96 Mihkel Räim (Est) Israel Cycling Academy
97 Ruben Pols (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
98 Daniel Turek (Cze) Israel Cycling Academy
99 Jens Wallays (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
100 Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
101 Aitor Gonzalez (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
102 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
103 Alexander Aranburu (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
104 Jon Irisarri (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
105 Beñat Txoperena (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
106 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team
107 Aydar Zakarin (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
108 William Bonnet (Fra) FDJ
109 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Movistar Team
110 Jesus Hernandez (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
111 Andrei Solomennikov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
112 Dmitriy Kozontchuk (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
113 Daniel Hoelgaard (Nor) FDJ
114 Johan Le Bon (Fra) FDJ
115 Angelo Tulik (Fra) Direct Energie
116 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Cannondale-Drapac
117 Yohann Gene (Fra) Direct Energie
118 Thomas Boudat (Fra) Direct Energie
119 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal
120 Raymond Kreder (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
121 Pim Ligthart (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
122 Mark Mcnally (GBr) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:14:05
123 Aidis Kruopis (Ltu) Veranda’s Willems Crelan
124 Adrian Gonzalez (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
125 Daniel Lopez (Spa) Burgos BH
126 Bryan Coquard (Fra) Direct Energie
127 Florian Senechal (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
128 Berden De Vries (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij 0:16:01
129 Marcin Bialoblocki (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
130 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
131 Ibai Salas (Spa) Burgos BH 0:17:03
132 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
133 Pello Olaberria (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
134 José Manuel Díaz (Spa) Israel Cycling Academy
135 Alvaro Robredo (Spa) Burgos BH
136 Gaetan Bille (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan
137 Sander Cordeel (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan
138 Adrien Petit (Fra) Direct Energie 0:19:03
139 Gotzon Udondo (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
140 Elias Van Breussegem (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan
141 Matthias Brändle (Aut) Trek-Segafredo 0:20:03
142 Roman Maikin (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 0:20:05
143 Kirill Sveshnikov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 0:21:03
DNF Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Cannondale-Drapac
DNF Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
DNF Marco Jurado (Spa) Burgos BH

General Classification after stage 1
1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 4:02:28
2 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky
3 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) FDJ
4 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Sky
5 Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
6 Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
7 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ 0:00:05
8 Mikel Landa (Spa) Team Sky
9 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac
10 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Sunweb
11 Pieter Weening (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij 0:00:24
12 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Team Sky 0:00:31
13 Javier Moreno (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
14 Ondrej Cink (Cze) Bahrain-Merida
15 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:51
16 Huub Duijn (Ned) Veranda’s Willems Crelan 0:01:04
17 Oscar Riesebeek (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
18 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
19 Sindre Skjøstad Lunke (Nor) Team Sunweb
20 Floris De Tier (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
21 Eduard Prades (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
22 Marco Minnaard (Ned) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
23 David Belda (Spa) Burgos BH
24 Stef Clement (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
25 Sergey Firsanov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
26 Garikoitz Bravo Oiarbide (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
27 Michal Schlegel (Cze) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
28 Romain Sicard (Fra) Direct Energie
29 Bart De Clercq (Bel) Lotto Soudal
30 Sergio Pardilla (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
31 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Team Sunweb
32 Hugh Carthy (GBr) Cannondale-Drapac
33 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
34 Hector Saez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
35 Mikel Bizkarra Etxegibel (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
36 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team
37 André Cardoso (Por) Trek-Segafredo
38 David Lopez (Spa) Team Sky
39 Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:04:05
40 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
41 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
42 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
43 Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
44 Igor Merino (Spa) Burgos BH
45 Nick Van Der Lijke (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij 0:06:04
46 Krists Neilands (Lat) Israel Cycling Academy
47 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb
48 Jan Hirt (Cze) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
49 Steve Morabito (Swi) FDJ 0:07:01
50 Jerome Cousin (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
51 Victor De La Parte (Spa) Movistar Team
52 Eliot Lietaer (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
53 Martijn Budding (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
54 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal
55 Leszek Plucinski (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
56 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal
57 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team
58 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
59 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
60 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan 0:09:02
61 Jorge Cubero Galvez (Spa) Burgos BH 0:10:00
62 Edward Planckaert (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
63 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
64 Jérôme Baugnies (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
65 Anton Vorobyev (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
66 Maciej Paterski (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
67 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) FDJ
68 Kevin Deltombe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
69 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
70 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky
71 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Sunweb
72 Kristijan Koren (Slo) Cannondale-Drapac
73 Simon Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac
74 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
75 Otto Vergaerde (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan
76 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
77 Luis Lemus (Mex) Israel Cycling Academy 0:12:00
78 Felix Großschartner (Aut) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:12:02
79 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:13:03
80 Maxime Farazijn (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
81 Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
82 Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
83 Dennis Van Winden (Ned) Israel Cycling Academy
84 Moreno Hofland (Ned) Lotto Soudal
85 Martijn Keizer (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
86 Bram Tankink (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
87 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
88 Antonio Molina (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
89 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
90 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida
91 Diego Rubio (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
92 Jorge Arcas Peña (Spa) Movistar Team
93 Amaury Capiot (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
94 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky
95 Julien Morice (Fra) Direct Energie
96 Mihkel Räim (Est) Israel Cycling Academy
97 Ruben Pols (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
98 Daniel Turek (Cze) Israel Cycling Academy
99 Jens Wallays (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise
100 Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
101 Aitor Gonzalez (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
102 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
103 Alexander Aranburu (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
104 Jon Irisarri (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
105 Beñat Txoperena (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
106 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team
107 Aydar Zakarin (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
108 William Bonnet (Fra) FDJ
109 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Movistar Team
110 Jesus Hernandez (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
111 Andrei Solomennikov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
112 Dmitriy Kozontchuk (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo
113 Daniel Hoelgaard (Nor) FDJ
114 Johan Le Bon (Fra) FDJ
115 Angelo Tulik (Fra) Direct Energie
116 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Cannondale-Drapac
117 Yohann Gene (Fra) Direct Energie
118 Thomas Boudat (Fra) Direct Energie
119 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal
120 Raymond Kreder (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
121 Pim Ligthart (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
122 Mark Mcnally (GBr) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:14:05
123 Aidis Kruopis (Ltu) Veranda’s Willems Crelan
124 Adrian Gonzalez (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
125 Daniel Lopez (Spa) Burgos BH
126 Bryan Coquard (Fra) Direct Energie
127 Florian Senechal (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
128 Berden De Vries (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij 0:16:01
129 Marcin Bialoblocki (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
130 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
131 Ibai Salas (Spa) Burgos BH 0:17:03
132 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
133 Pello Olaberria (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
134 José Manuel Díaz (Spa) Israel Cycling Academy
135 Alvaro Robredo (Spa) Burgos BH
136 Gaetan Bille (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan
137 Sander Cordeel (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan
138 Adrien Petit (Fra) Direct Energie 0:19:03
139 Gotzon Udondo (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
140 Elias Van Breussegem (Bel) Veranda’s Willems Crelan
141 Matthias Brändle (Aut) Trek-Segafredo 0:20:03
142 Roman Maikin (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 0:20:05
143 Kirill Sveshnikov (Rus) Gazprom – Rusvelo 0:21:03