Body bruised and morale dented after yesterday’s second stage of the race, Alejandro Valverde has withdrawn prior to today’s toughest leg of the Volta a Catalunya, thus giving up on his aim of winning the race.
The Movistar rider fell in the feedzone with 51 kilometres to go, crashing hard and hitting his side and head.
“Just as we were heading out of the feedzone, there was a bottle on the road, the front wheel went over it and I crashed on my right side against a kerb,” he stated after trailing in two minutes and nine seconds behind the stage winner and ongoing race leader Michael Albasini (GreenEdge). The other race favourites were also in the group, thus handing him a tough time deficit.
“It was practically an inevitable crash. I got on my feet again but I was feeling pretty dizzy after the crash, and I took some time to get going again.”
The issue was compounded by the actions of the Omega Pharma Quick Step team, which felt slighted after Valverde’s Movistar team attacked Levi Leipheimer when he crashed in Paris-Nice. The American yielded third place overall to the Spaniard as a result, but yesterday his team seized the chance to turn the tables.
Even though the overall victory was going to be very difficult to achieve, Valverde had reason to continue as he is currently third in the UCI’s WorldTour rankings. He’s amassed 167 points, 43 off the total of the leader Simon Gerrans (GreenEdge) and 15 behind Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale).
However he conceded yesterday that there was a chance he’d have to stop. “I have much pain, especially in the right side, in my shoulder. Let's see how we rest and wake up to assess tomorrow what we can do.”
The outcome is that he won’t continue, opting to take an early exit and to recover for his next objectives. His team-mate Javi Moreno also stops due to stomach problems. It’s a setback for Valverde's spring ambitions as, as well as targeting the Volta a Catalunya as a goal in itself, he was also using the race to try to build his form prior to the Ardennes Classics.
He won the Catalan race in 2009. This season he’s won stages in each of the Vuelta a Andalucia, the Santos Tour Down Under and Paris-Nice, plus taken first, second and third overall respectively in those events.
Today’s stage covers 210.9 kilometres from La Vall d'en Bas (Sant Esteve d'en Bas) to Port-Ainé. It features two first category and two hors categorie ascents, including a 1947 metre summit finish. Bad weather is forecast, making the day ahead even tougher.