The climb of the Alto de Puig Llorença didn’t quite have Alejandro Valverde’s name written all over it – that honour belonged to Joaquim Rodriguez, whose father painted the road in his honour the night before – but his Movistar team certainly had earmarked stage 9 of the Vuelta a España as a major rendezvous in the race for final overall honours.
The men in navy blue were prominent in chasing down the early escapees on the approach to the short final ascent, and once the road began to climb, both Valverde and his teammate Nairo Quintana were on the offensive, putting Chris Froome (Sky) in difficulty as they bounded up the 19% slopes that reared up a kilometre in.
Their day was to end in disappointment, however. Quintana, that one flourish apart, looked simply to follow the moves, and while Valverde was more aggressive, he was unable to make any of his attacks stick.
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As the leading group fragmented almost in slow motion in the final 1500 metres, Quintana and Valverde found themselves on the back foot, crossing the line in 6th and 7th place on the stage, 20 seconds down on stage winner and new red jersey Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin), 18 behind Froome and 15 down on Rodriguez.
Speaking immediately after reaching the top, Valverde said that he had been affected on the final climb by a shoulder injury he sustained in a mid-stage crash that involved a number of riders, including Dumoulin, Fabio Aru (Astana) and Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r-La Mondiale).
"I'm not one who likes to make up excuses, but after the crash I really thought it would turn out way worse for me, that I would even have to retire," Valverde said. "I'll undergo medical checks as soon as I get down this hill, because my shoulder is so inflamed. I don't think my collarbone is broken, because if it was, I wouldn't have been able to get on my bike again, but to be honest, it hurts a lot, it’s like having a knife stuck into it."
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