It may have come to nothing more than just a show of strength, but Alejandro Valverde’s superb descending in the late four-man breakaway certainly gave a statement to his GC rivals.
The Spaniard, who lost the red jersey on stage three, attacked on the descent of the Alto del Catorce por Ciento and had powered the group into a 30-second lead almost immediately.
His presence up the road meant fellow escapee Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEDGE) kept a lid on the Movistar man, with the red jersey of Michael Matthews to protect.
But Valverde’s little acceleration certainly did not go unnoticed, on a day when Movistar’s pace-setting had done much of the work in cutting the peloton down to size.
He is seen by many as being second to Giro d’Italia champion Nairo Quintana in the Movistar pecking order at this year’s race.
But whether riding as the main man, or as a foil to Quintana, such moves by Valverde will certainly keep things interesting as far as the GC is concerned.
