Team Sky led all the way up the final climb in today's queen stage of the Vuelta a Andalusia but was unable to shake Alejandro Valverde who appeared to be at ease when he outsprinted them to take his third win a row. The team admits their defeat and have now set their sights on the coming sprint stages.

Team Sky produced a superb climbing display on the second stage of the Ruta del Sol but couldn’t shake Alejandro Valverde as the Spaniard wrapped up his third successive win.
 

Xabier Zandio brought the entire squad to the fore once the breakaway had been swept up in the last 11km, and then each rider took a huge turn on the front as they powered up the Santuario Virgen de la Sierra de Cabra. The pace Sir Bradley Wiggins, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Vasil Kiryienka, Peter Kennaugh and Geraint Thomas set on the final climb of the day ensured only 15 riders remained when Richie Porte was unleashed in the final 500m.

Porte gave it all he had in the final sprint for the line but Valverde (Movistar) had been sitting patiently on Daniel Navarro’s wheel and rounded the Cofidis rider before sealing a remarkable hat-trick of victories.

Porte rolled home one second adrift in fifth position which meant the Australian defended his second place in the overall standings, 20 seconds behind Valverde and two ahead of the third-placed Luis Leon Sanchez (Caja Rural).

Back on the team bus, Sports Director Dario Cioni was full of praise for the efforts his riders had shown but admitted Valverde had been equal to anything they could throw at him.

"Valverde is in fantastic form at the moment and I don't think we could have done anything more. The guys have been riding amazingly all race, and did so again today. Every one of them produced a big shift and stuck to the plan 100%, but we just couldn't drop him.

"Richie's still in second on the GC, so that's good, although he was a bit disappointed immediately after the race that he couldn't finish things off for the team.

The next two stages are significantly easier and are expected to end in sprints. Sky will now readjust their focus.

"Tomorrow is another day and we'll refocus on that now. We're expecting it to come down to a sprint finish so we'll do all we can to get Edvald into the mix and see what he can do there."

You can read our preview of the race here.