Movistar seeks a victory in Ribeira Sacra

The rough Galician roads have tested the 190 survivors of the Tour of Spain, one of the toughest and most beautiful days of this spanish round edition. It was a continuous slide in which Movistar has fought for the stage win but the british Simon Yates (Orica BikeExchange) has been victorious with his attack on the last climb before the final in Ribeira Sacra.

Alejandro Valverde ended eighth, leading the chasing pack of a small group where his teammate Daniel Moreno was. Valverde remains second in the overall before three hard mountain stages that are starting this weekend: Camperona on Saturday, Naranco on Sunday and Lagos de Covadonga on Monday.

Quotes:  “Eventually we couldn’t win, even if we tried so hard. We took so much time pushing and at the end, the two of us, Nairo and myself, were a bit along, something logical when you put so much on the table. The plan was obviously contesting the stage with me, but once I saw Dani was pushing alone into the penultimate climb, 5km from the finish, I told him to attack and go after Frank and try to win the stage himself. Having only him to take command of the group until the end – it just wasn’t feasible, they would kill us with attacks. Yates, unfortunately, was stronger. It was a hard one. Nairo? He’s here to do what he’s thought to do, we couldn’t put him to work there. I had a good chance today, but… All in all, the team has shown again to be doing well, we got through another day in good overall position, and that’s what will count at the end”.

Photo: Movistar Team