Alejandro Valverde wins the Vuelta a Andalucia 2012
Alejandro Valverde claimed his first overall victory of the season as the Spaniard secured the top podium spot during the final day at the Vuelta a Andalucia 2012.
The cyclist started the final stage of the race with an overall lead of three seconds over Rein Taaramae and eight seconds over Jerome Coppel.
Alejandro started the 135.7 kilometre stage 4 of the race with only one goal in his mind, the top overall podium position.
He finished second during the fourth stage and maintained his grip on the final general classification, Rein Taaramae and Jerome Coppel achieved the second and the third spots after the final general classifications.
The 31-year-old started his 2012 campaign at the UCI inaugural event, Santos Tour Down Under and finished the race at the second overall position and also achieved the fifth stage of the race.
Team Movistar rider also won the second stage of the Spanish race and his second place finish during the final stage helped him and his team with their first overall success of the season.
The Spaniard was delighted after the win, “We can say we have won at last after these two tremendously hard days for me, but especially for the team, to be honest, the other teams made us suffer a lot, and we rode impressively hard today”, he said.
He also admired the performance by his team and mentioned that without the help of his team-mates, he could have never fulfilled his dream of the overall victory at the Vuelta a Andalucia.
Alejandro did well to restrict his main competitors during the final day. He pointed, "I was looking at [Rein] Taaramäe at the finish, because for me, he was the most dangerous guy, and when Dani Moreno attacked I didn't even think of going past him," he
said.
Valverde also wins the points classifications while Oscar Freire Gomez and Michael Matthews claimed the second and the third positions respectively.
Luis Angel Mate of Team Cofidis occupied both, the Mountains and the Sprint Classifications of the race.
Team RadioShack-Nissan achieved the top spot after the final Team’s Classifications, Rabobank Cycling Team and Team Katusha grabbed the second and the third positions after the end of the race.
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