Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana 2018: Roelandts outsprints Van Poppel, Valverde takes overall

The last stage of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana takes in one intermediate climb before a fast finishers showdown in the streets of Valencia. Oliver Naesen hits the wet tarmac and it boils down to a Jurgen Roelandts/Danny van Poppel clash with the BMC-Belgium taking the win. Alejandro Valverde's pockets the overall victory with ease. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 5th stage 2018 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana

1. Jürgen Roelandts (bel)
2. Danny van Poppel (nld) s.t.
3. Clement Venturini (fra) s.t.
4. Nelson Soto (col) s.t.
6. Baptiste Planckaert (bel) s.t.
7. Marco Canola (ita) s.t.
8. Yevgeniy Gidich (kaz) s.t.
9. Jonas Koch (ger) s.t.
10. Hugo Hofstetter (fra) s.t.

Final GC Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
1. Alejandro Valverde (spa)
2. Luis León Sánchez (spa) + 0.14
3. Jakob Fuglsang (den) + 0.26
4. Adam Yates (gbr) + 0.37
5. Jesús Herrada (spa) + 0.48
6. Primoz Roglic (slo) + 0.49
7. Pelle Bilbao(spa) + 0.54
8. Roman Kreuziger (cze) + 0.57
9. Kilian Frankini (swi) + 1.03
10. Amaro Antunes (por) + 1.09

Race report
The Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana ends in rainy conditions. Six riders jump of the front of the peloton at km 8. Michal Kwiatkowski, Stefan Küng, Domen Novak, Rein Taaramae, Thomas Sprengers and Jan Tratnik race to a lead of more than 1 minute before it stabilizes.

On the only climb of the day, the Puerto del Oronet, the break is almost brought back when Tratnik heads out on his own. He is the first rider to crest, but Küng takes control on descent and powers to a lead of almost half a minute on the flat. Yet, the Swizz time trialist is caught with 9 kms to go.

A technical and wet finish in Valencia’s city centre was too much for the sprint trains. Oliver Naesen took the best line through the last set of corners to open up a small gap, but he hit the deck just before entering the final straight. Roelandts was close behind and held his nerve, although Van Poppel did everything to overhaul him. The Belgian kept going and turned out on top.

Alejandro Valverde finished safely in the bunch to pocket his third overall victory in the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana – making him sole record holder.