Brilliant Valverde wins final stage of Volta a Catalunya to secure overall victory

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) claimed the final stage of the Volta a Catalunya and confirmed his dominant victory in the overall classification.

The Movistar leader outsprinted Jarlinson Pantano (Trek-Segafredo) and Arthur Vichot (FDJ) in Barcelona for his third stage win in the Spanish WorldTour race.

Alejandro Valverde claimed honours at the 138km course, with eight laps of the famous Montjuïc climb. Daniel Martin’s acceleration into the final kilometers encouraged the man from Murcia to anticipate a selected field’s sprint and complete a week’s exhibition victorious on the line.

“The legs felt really good after such a difficult race as in Saturday, when we had to go through some difficult climbs at a very high pace, under the rain and with much col”, said Valverde.

“It was all completely different today, with pleasant weather, a short stage and – just like throughour the whole week – a magnificent job from my team-mates to control that 22-rider early break, later chased down by the other teams. At that final lap, I knew Martin would be jumping away at that point next to the Stadium, because he had done so in the past. I just went after him – though it took a lot for me to close the gap, when he stopped I could see that our advantage was decent. Since it wasn’t the best cooperation between us two, we ended up starting that downhill sprint at a very much slower speed than the pursuit group. I just, barely managed to win the stage.

?? ¡HA GANADO EL BALA! ¡@alejanvalverde arrasa en la #VoltaCatalunya al adjudicarse su tercera etapa en Montjuïc! #VamosBala pic.twitter.com/QMAWfKcQB1

— Movistar Team (@Movistar_Team) 26 martie 2017

Volta a Catalunya 2017 – stage 7 results (Barcelona – Barcelona):

Final general classification: