Alejandro Valverde continued his dominant showing in the Vuelta a Andalucia when he launched his impressive burst of speed to take an emphatic win on the short, steep climb to the finish in today's first stage of the race. Despite appearing to be at ease in his effort, the Spaniard admitted to having been completely empty at the end of a long, hard day in the saddle.

Alejandro Valverde's love story with Jaén and the Vuelta a Andalucía had yet another chapter today on the slopes of the Castillo de Santa Catalina, the finish of the 60th Ruta del Sol's hardest stage over 187 kilometres and six rated climbs, with no rest allowed from the very start in Vélez Málaga. The Movistar Team's leader, already winner in the province with two stages of the Vuelta a España - finishing atop La Pandera (2003) and in the capital (2008) - took the splendid work of his teammates all day to fruition at today's finish.

Imanol Erviti and Eros Capecchi were the first two men in charge of keeping control of an 11-man attempt that rode through the opening ascents; after that, with about thirty kilometers from the end, Ruben Plaza picked up the pace and José Herrada and Javi Moreno offered their force to catch every single attack against the Blue train. Finally, Ion Izagirre moved up to the small front group, with about ten riders resisting the pace, to keep Valverde calm and confident so the Murcian could prove his impressive legs in a twisty, steep final section next to the castle.

The final climb may have been a short one but it came at the end of a very hard stage. Valverde admitted that he had been completely exhausted at the finish.

"It was a really hard day, always up and down - we climbed 4,000 meters in just 185 kilometers, which considering which time of the year we're in, is quite brutal," he said. "We didn't want to let such a big break go away, but when they attacked we were starting the climbing, and going after them would have meant to increased the speed too much for that point of the race.

"To be honest, Erviti and Capecchi impressed me, they made an amazing work pushing almost all stage. Same goes for the rest of my teammates in the finale: Plaza, Herrada and Javi in the last climb. Chapeau to all of them. In the uphill finish, Ion's work was crucial because, when [Richie] Porte sent [Geraint] Thomas ahead, he bridged the gap and later led me out for the sprint - a genius. I wasn't having super legs at that point, because we were all dead tired after such an effort, but they were good indeed."

Valverde is now 19 seconds ahead of Richie Porte, with Luis León Sánchez in third at 21" and teammate Izagirre over half a minute behind his fellow countryman on the eve of the second and last mountai-top finish of this year's Andalusian stage race: a long (197km), one-climb day finishing atop the Santuario de la Virgen de la Sierra de Cabra (Cat-1).

" It seems like tomorrow's will be the Queen stage, but today's seemed to me even harder," he Valverde said. "The thing is, today's wear and tear will pay a role, and the climb is longer, so gaps might be made there. It will be hard to stay calm as we're holding the lead, but we're hopeful we can work a little less than today."

You can read our preview of the race here.