Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) claimed the victory at the 2018 Vuelta a Murcia, crossing the finish line ahead of Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), his companion at the front throughout the last kilometres.
The two local riders, joined by Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), reached down a four-man lead group stemming from a monster break (40 riders) jumping away from the field in the beginning of the race.
The trio bridged back to Jungels, Serry, Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) and Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott), and after the descent of the Collado Bermejo, Valverde and Sánchez left the others behind with a duo attack which only Gilbert attempted to bring down.
As winds picked up in the final descent towards the finish, Sánchez anticipated Valverde’s strong sprint with a well-timed attack with 2km from the finish.
https://youtu.be/HPZMiaIkCBA
Vuelta a Murcia 2018 results:
| 1 | Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) | 5:06:34 |
| 2 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | +15” |
| 3 | Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) | +02’15” |
| 4 | Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) | +03’54” |
| 5 | Pieter Serry (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 6 | Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) | ,, |
| 7 | Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) | +03’57” |
| 8 | Willie Smit (Katusha-Alpecin) | +05’11” |
| 9 | Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) | +05’16” |
| 10 | Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Wanty – Groupe Gobert) | ,, |
