Vlasov did it
Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) carefully finished in the peloton in stage five of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana and thus secured the overall title. The 25-year-old Russian celebrated his first-ever stage race success. Remco Evenepoel (Quick-Step–Alpha Vinyl) finished 32 seconds down. 21-year-old Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) finished third at 36 seconds overall. Vlasov took the yellow jersey from Evenepoel on the dirt road climb to the Antenas del Maigmó hilltop finish on stage 3. His team then made sure to deliver him through the two sprint stages unharmed.
The final stage was a swift 92-km route from Paterna to Valencia. Fabio Jakobsen was blocked in during the Saturday sprint and QuickStep-AlphaVinyl wasn’t going to be denied a triumph two times in a row. Even Remco Evenepoel and Yves Lampaert took part in controlling the last three kilometres. Michael Morkov then positioned Jakobsen perfectly in the final 500 metres. The 25-year-old Dutchman then opened up his sprint in the last 150 metres and gave no chance to his rivals. Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers) finished second and Alexander Kristoff (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) crossed the finish line third.
Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana – Stage 5 results
1. Fabio Jakobsen (Quick-Step–Alpha Vinyl) – 1:55:49
2. Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers)
3. Alexander Kristoff (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert)
Final General classification
1. Alexandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe)
2. Remco Evenepoul (Quick-Step–Alpha Vinyl) + 32 s
3. Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) + 36 s
4. Enric Mas (Movistar) + 50 s
5. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) + 1:02
6. Jacob Fuglsang (Israel-Premier Tech) + 1:05
7. Luis León Sanchez (Bahrain Victorious) + 1:14
8. Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) + 2:00
9. David de la Cruz (Astana Qazaqstan) + 2:28
10. Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) + 2:54
What is happening here?
Was it on purpose, Peter?
