Cycling: Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) won the uphill finish against Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe). The Spaniard narrowly prevailed against the Slovakian and thus celebrated his second victory of the day at this year's Vuelta a Espana.
Even a big lead is not enough for the escapees
Again, the escapees were caught by the peloton. Today, however, it should be a close affair. On the 195,5-kilometer route from Linares to Almadén, Tiago Machado (Katusha-Alpecin), Jorge Cubero (Burgos BH) and Hector Saez (Euskadi) opened up a lead of over eleven minutes. But this shouldn't be enough, because initially the Groupama-FDJ team narrowed the gap for leader Rudy Molard and later the sprinter teams offered their support. The lead of the trio tumbled by around a minute every ten kilometers – just as the calculation promises. Once again the German Marcus Burghardt (Bora-hansgrohe) had a big part in the catch. For his captain Peter Sagan, he forced the merger around six kilometers from the finish. But even today it shouldn't be enough for the world champion. In the man-to-man sprint, he lost to old master Alejandro Valverde (Movistar). However, the last few kilometers were not easy either. Apart from the time bonus, there were no gaps among the favorites in the overall standings.
¡Que final! Valverde arranca desde muy atras y le roba la tostada a Peter Sagan #LaVuelta18 pic.twitter.com/2SAIfGlH1Q
— Diego Vos ~ Ciclismo (@diegovos_) September 1, 2018
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