Alejandro Valverde sealed the overall title at the Abu Dhabi Tour on Sunday with a fine stage win on the Jebel Hafeet summit finish.
The Spaniard not only showed his climbing prowess, but also his sprinting ability by outmaneuvering Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) in the final meters to take the stage win. It was a double victory for Valverde as he also captured the overall title.
Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) won the sprint for third on the stage, proving to have the better finishing kick against Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) and Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe).
“I’m super happy with this victory. Before anything, I just want to thank the whole team for their phenomenal work all week, keeping me well protected leading up to the weekend and today’s climb, so I just had to push when it was needed”, said Valverde. “Today’s stage was one to keep extreme attention at, on difficult terrain because of the strong winds and that bit of rain which made roads more slippery. It’s our first WorldTour victory of the season, which makes it all the more important against the top guns.”
Abu Dhabi Tour 2018 – stage 5 results (Qasr Al Muwaiji – Jebel Hafeet):
| 1 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | 4:38:47 |
| 2 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | ,, |
| 3 | Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) | +15” |
| 4 | Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 5 | Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 6 | Davide Formolo (Bora-hansgrohe) | +37” |
| 7 | Niklas Eg (Trek-Segafredo) | +47” |
| 8 | Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) | +55” |
| 9 | Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 10 | Antwan Tolhoek (LottoNl-Jumbo) | ,, |
Final general classification:
| 1 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | 16:00:11 |
| 2 | Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) | +17” |
| 3 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | +29” |
| 4 | Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) | +31” |
| 5 | Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) | +45” |
| 6 | Davide Formolo (Bora-hansgrohe) | +01’13” |
| 7 | Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) | +01’18” |
| 8 | Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) | +01’28” |
| 9 | Rohan Dennis (BMC) | +01’29” |
| 10 | Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-hansgrohe) | +01’37” |
