Drawing upon his regularity in all kinds of mountains on the country's hardest climb, Alejandro Valverde took a decisive step to the overall podium of the 2013 Vuelta a España in Madrid. The Movistar Team leader finished in 3rd place atop the Alto de L'Angliru on stage 20.

The pace was high right from the first kilometres after a 32-rider breakaway where Imanol Erviti and Beñat Intxausti kept the Movistar Team's interests protected, while the support from the rest of the team - including an excellent José Herrada - kept Valverde out of trouble before the last 10km of the final climb.

An initial attack by Nibali (AST) with 7km remaining put Valverde into his red zone and compelled the Murcian to go at his own pace and remain at a short distance behind the rest of the favourites, almost twenty seconds back. Valverde’s gap to Rodríguez (KAT) for the podium, almost one minute, was never jeopardized after that point: a moment of vigilance between the favourites with 4km remaining allowed Valverde to get back into the group and start a surge that allowed the Valverde to drop Rodriguez and reach Nibali after the decisive attack from Horner (RLT), virtual winner of the race and 2nd across the finish behind Kenny Elissonde (FDJ), the last man standing from the breakaway.

With the Points classification firmly secured for a second consecutive year, Valverde and all the Movistar Team riders will enjoy tomorrow the final stage of the 2013 Vuelta: 109km from Leganés to the urban circuit of Madrid (eight laps).

“I gave everything that I had and I'm satisfied with myself,” Valverde said after completing the brutal climb on the Angliru. “We must congratulate Horner after such a great effort - we saw he was the strongest in the race once again, he was phenomenal. Nibali was great, too - he was brave and made us struggle a lot. I think all four main contenders did really well. I knew I'd be climbing well at my pace, but I needed one of my rivals to crack in order to progress in the overall. That didn't happen and that's why I'm happy with this third place. It's yet another podium overall in the Vuelta a España, and despite not winning a stage, we were always at the front and we secured the points jersey. We were able to stay competitive through all three weeks, and that's fantastic - the team was also impressive today. Let's hope this is a good step to making something beautiful at the Florence Worlds in two weeks' time."