Jesus Herrada and Igor Anton completed an excellent day for the Movistar team in the Vuelta a Asturias when Herrada won the stage and Anton took the overall victory. After a big solo attack by Anton, the pair arrived at the finish as part of a 6-rider group that also included their teammates Ion Izagirre and Ruben Fernandez and while Herrada won the sprint ahead of Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural) and Izagirre, Anton took the overall victory.

Movistar went into the two-day Vuelta Asturias as the only WorldTour team and with a star-studded line-up of climbers, they were expected to dominate the mountainous event. However, few would have expected them to control the race in the way they did in today’s final stage of the race.

Already yesterday, the team had impressed as Igor Anton had taken a solo victory and Jesus Herrada sprinted to the final spot on the podium but today they managed to do even better. Again they took first and third but to make things even better they put no less than four riders in the top 5 and secured the overall victory for Anton.

All day, they worked hard behind a strong breakaway that even seemed to have a chance to make it to the finish when they hit the bottom of the final climb with 10km to go. Francisco Mancebo (Skydive) and Angel Madrazo (Caja Rural) proved to be hard to catch and this made the race hard.

However, Anton had proved that he was the strongest climber in the race and again he confirmed his status when he dropped everybody with a big attack on the steep slopes. He flew past the front duo while the peloton splintered to pieces behind.

Anton crested the summit with 7km to go as the lone leader and entered the final 5km with a 20-second advantage over a three-rider group with Herrada and the Caja Rural duo of Madrazo and Amets Txurruka. Madrazo sacrificed himself completely for his teammate and so got dropped.

However, Movistar really played with the muscles when Ion Izagirre, Ruben Fernandez and Omar Fraile (Caja Rural) made it back to the chasers and so they had three riders in the group that could follow wheels while Anton worked hard to maintain his advantage. The Basque still had a 5-second advantage with 1km to go but a strong turn by Fraile brought him back. Instead, it came down to a sprint and here Herrada lived up to his status as the fastest rider by taking the win, with Txurruka and Izagirre completing the podium.

Anton rolled across the line in fifth but that was enough to win the race overall, with Txurruka and Herrada rounding out the top 3. Herrada won the points competition while Rodolfo Torres (Colombia) was the best climber and Louletano the best team.

With the Vuelta Asturias done and dusted, many of the riders from today’s race will head to Madrid for the two-day Vuelta Ciclista Comunidad de Madrid next weekend.

A hilly stage

After the hilly opener, the Vuelta Asturias finished with another very tough stage that brought the riders over 170.4km from Soto de Ribera to Oviedo. After an early category 2 climb, the riders tackled a category 3 climb at the midpoint before they got to the difficult finale. Here they tackled a category 2, a category 3 and another category 2 climb with 49.1km, 21.0km and 7.3km to go respectively and after the final ascent, they only had to do a fast descent to get to the line.

The riders had nice weather conditions when they gathered at the start and they got the race off to a fast beginning with lots of attacks. Already after 1km, it seemed that the early break had formed when Miguel Angel Benito (Caja Rural), Benat Txoperena (Murias Talda) and Israel Nuno (Inteja) got an advantage of 20 seconds. However, the peloton made a belated reaction and at the 8km mark, it was back together.

Madrazo and Torres take off

Francisco Mancebo (Skydive) launched an immediate counterattack and at the 10km mark he had an advantage of 10 seconds. Angel Madrazo (Caja Rural) joined him and he even managed to distance the Skydive leader as they went up the first climb.

Pablo Torres (Burgos) joined forces with the strong Spaniard and they worked hard to get a gap. At the 30km mark, they had an advantage of 30 seconds over a 10-rider chase group while the peloton had taken a small breather and had been distanced by 2.20.

A strong octet is formed

The chase group was whittled down to just 6 riders, with Mancebo, Luis Fernandes (W52), Daniel Silva (Radio Popular), Adellyn Cruz (Inteja), Igor Merino (Burgos) and Imanol Estevez (Murias Taldea) surviving. They made it across to the 2 leader to make it a front octet that had an advantage of 2.30 at the 33km mark.

The break splits up

Unsurprisingly, Movistar took control of the peloton, with Enrique Sanz riding on the front, but they allowed the gap to grow to 4.40 at the 50km mark. 15km later, it had even gone out to 5.40 and as they entered the final 50km, the peloton was still 5 minutes behind.

On the third climb, the front group split up as only Mancebo, Madrazo, Torres, Merino and Cruz managed to keep up. Meanwhile, Movistar accelerated and brought the gap down to 3.40 with 40km to go.

Murias Taldea take control

With 20km to go, the front quintet still had an advantage of 1.51. The chaser had now been brought back and so the Murias Taldea team had decided to accelerate in the peloton.

On the penultimate climb, the front group again split up and as they crested the summit, Mancebo, Madrazo and Torres were 45 seconds ahead of Merio and Cruz while the peloton was at 1.45. As they entered the final 15km, they still had an advantage of 1.30 but they had to overcome the final climb to be in contention for the win.

Anton goes on the attack

With 10km to go, Mancebo attack and only Madrazo could keep up with him. Further back, Anton made a big move and no one was able to keep up with the race leader who flew past the front duo.

Txurruka and Herrada took off in pursuit and only Madrazo managed to hang onto them when they caught the early attackers. With 5km to go, they were still 20 seconds behind the lone Anton but the two Caja Rural riders managed to bring the climb back, opening the door for Herrada to win the sprint.