Nairo Quintana (Movistar) delivered a warning to his Grand Tour rivals with devastating performance on the queen stage of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana. The pint-sized Colombian climber attacked on the lower slopes of the Mas de la Costa to solo to his first win of the season, leaving the rest of the peloton trailing in his wake.
He was briefly joined on the climb by Merhawi Kudus (Dimension Data) but in reality Quintana was riding in a league of his own to take both the stage win and pull on the leader’s jersey after overturning Greg Van Avermaet's (BMC Racing) overnight lead. Quintana was almost on the podium before the struggling Belgian made it to the line after a brave but futile defence of the yellow jersey.
Even Quintana’s principal rivals in the race, David Lopez and Woet Poels (Team Sky), Daniel Martin (Quickstep Floors) and Steven Kruijswijk (Team LottoNl-Jumbo), were powerless on the mystifyingly steep climb, with its pitches of over 22 per cent.
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At the line, Quintana had 40 seconds on Kudus, with Amaro Antunes (W52/FC Porto) a further five seconds back. Quintana leads the race with one stage remaining, with Ben Hermans (BMC Racing) at 23 seconds and the young Manuel Senni (BMC Racing Team) in third at 42 seconds.
It was faultless performance from Movistar all round on Saturday. When an early break went clear, consisting of Lauren de Plus (Quick-Step Floors), Lawson Craddock (Cannondale-Drapac), Philippe Gilbert (QuickStep Floors), Igor Anton (Team Dimension Data) and Cyril Gautier (AG2R La Mondiale), the Spanish team sat back, and allowed others to ride tempo on the front.
BMC Racing, with Van Averamet in the leader’s jersey, and Team Sky duly applied. The British team, with a number of GC options in their ranks and 2016 champion Woet Poels keen to defend his title, kept the leaders in check before turning on the gas inside the final 50km.
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