Lacking a top sprinter in their ranks during the 2015 Vuelta a La Rioja, the Movistar Team chose to create and join all moves in the 166km event in northern Spain. The first real break of the day, eight riders including youngsters Rubén Fernández and Marc Soler, never gained more than two minutes of advantage, pursued by the Murias squad before bringing them back before the last 40k.

The outskirts of the final circuit around Logroño were taken advantage of by Alejandro Valverde to try his luck away from the bunch, initially together with García Cortina (AWT) and later as a solo escapee in the streets of the city, getting caught with 15km to go. The Spaniard still fought into the sprint to claim the 6th spot, just behind team-mate Jesús Herrada, while Australian Caleb Ewan (OGE) grabbed the honours.

José Joaquín Rojas's 34th spot, just over three minutes behind winner Alexander, Kristoff (KAT), was the Movistar Team's top performance in the Ronde van Vlaanderen as the Blues started from Bruges with their biggest hopeful absent, Andrey Amador, yet with a courageous group which tried to leave an impression.

Unsuccesful insistence from Sanz and Dayer Quintana to make the early break was followed by a brief attempt by Juanjo Lobato to enter a strong escape just before the Oude Kwaremont. A crash by Fran Ventoso, who nonetheless will need only a few stitches on his knee, was the only misfortune for the Spanish outfit today.