Alejandro Valverde furious on Team Sky actions during the stage 4 of the Vuelta a Espana 2012
Jan Ullrich has noted that Team Sky should have waited for Alejandro Valverde during the stage 4 crash at the Vuelta a Espana 2012.
Team Movistar cyclist crashed during the race which cost him the red jersey the cyclist was furious after the stance taken by the British side, Team Sky.
Valverde stormed towards the team’s bus and demanded to explain their actions towards the fourth stage of the Vuelta.
The Spaniard crashed during the final 20 kilometres of the race and Team Sky launched an attack right after the crash.
He told the reported that a Team Sky cyclist initiated the crash, “Sky formed an echelon and they’re perfectly within their rights to do that,” Alejandro cited.
“I’m not cross that I lost the lead because of this, but because there was no respect”.
Team Sky Director Nicolas-Porter was unhappy with Valverde’s statement and briefed that the team took no advantage of the crash and it was all an accident.
"I’m really, really unhappy at what happened, these people are my friends," Portal said.
"Everybody was very nervous, Movistar, Katusha and I told my riders to be alert and watch out for any moves".
"Then when they [Sky] formed the echelon I saw there was a Saxo Bank rider on the ground [Nicki Sorensen] and a crash, but I didn’t see either Alejandro [Valverde] or Contador. I only found out later".
Simon Clarke of Team Orica-GreenEdge eventually managed to remain in front after end of the race.
Tony Martin fell two seconds short and occupied the second spot with Assan Bazayev of Team Astana, Marcos Garcia of Team Caja Rural and Nicolas Roche of Team Ag2R La Mondiale securing the third, the fourth and the fifth positions in the respective order.
Top ten cyclists after the stage 4 overall classifications is as below,
1
Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team
13:18:45
2
Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling
0:00:01
3
Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank
0:00:05
4
Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
0:00:09
5
Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
6
Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling
0:00:11
7
Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha Team
0:00:14
8
Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale
0:00:24
9
Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team
0:00:36
10
Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
0:00:46
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