2018 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana

The 69th edition of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana (English: Tour of the Valencian Community) was held from 31 January to 4 February 2018. It was run over five stages, of which one team time trial, covering a total distance of 691.8 km. It was a 2.1 event of the 2018 UCI Europe Tour. The race was run entirely in the autonomous community of Valencia, starting in Orpesa and finishing in Valencia.^[2]

2018 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana

2018 UCI Europe Tour
Race details
Dates	31 January–4 February 2018
Stages	5
Distance	661.6[1] km (411.1 mi)
Winning time	16h 14' 53"
Results
Winner  Alejandro Valverde (ESP)   Second  Luis León Sánchez (ESP)   Third  Jakob Fuglsang (DEN)   Mountains  Preben Van Hecke (BEL)   Youth  Kilian Frankiny (SUI)   Combination  Thomas Sprengers (BEL)   Sprints  Thomas Sprengers (BEL)   Team Astana
← 2017 2019 →

The race was won by Spaniard Alejandro Valverde of Movistar Team, who also won two stages. Luis León Sánchez was second, Jakob Fuglsang third.^[3] Valverde's overall win was his third in the race after 2004 and 2007, which made him the recordholder of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana.

Teams

Twenty-five teams started the race. Each team had a maximum of seven riders:^[4]

UCI WorldTeams

• Movistar Team
• BMC Racing Team
• LottoNL–Jumbo
• Mitchelton–Scott
• AG2R La Mondiale
• Team Dimension Data
• Team Sky
• Team Katusha–Alpecin
• Bahrain–Merida
• EF Education First–Drapac p/b Cannondale
• Astana

UCI Professional teams

• CCC–Sprandi–Polkowice
• Gazprom–RusVelo
• Israel Cycling Academy
• Rally Cycling
• Euskadi–Murias
• Nippo–Vini Fantini–Europa Ovini
• Cofidis
• Sport Vlaanderen–Baloise
• Direct Énergie
• Caja Rural–Seguros RGA
• Burgos BH

UCI Continental teams

• Polartec–Kometa
• Inteja Dominican Cycling Team
• Fundación Euskadi

Route

Stage characteristics and winners^[5][6]

Stage	Date	Course	Distance	Type		Stage winner
1	31 January	Oropesa del Mar to Peniscola	191.5 km (119.0 mi)		Flat stage	Danny van Poppel (NED)
2	1 February	Bétera to Albuixech	153.9 km (95.6 mi)		Medium mountain stage	Alejandro Valverde (ESP)
3	2 February	Benitachell / El Poble Nou de Benitatxell to Calp	23.2 km (14.4 mi)		Team time trial	BMC Racing Team
4	3 February	Orihuela to Cocentaina	181 km (112 mi)		Mountain stage	Alejandro Valverde (ESP)
5	4 February	Paterna to Valencia	135.2 km (84.0 mi)		Flat stage	Jürgen Roelandts (BEL)

Stages

Stage 1

Stage 1 result[5][7] Rank Rider Team Time 1  Danny van Poppel (NED) LottoNL–Jumbo 4h 34' 13" 2  Luka Mezgec (SLO) Mitchelton–Scott s.t. 3  Jürgen Roelandts (BEL) BMC Racing Team s.t. 4  Daniel McLay (GBR) EF Education First–Drapac p/b Cannondale s.t. 5  Clément Venturini (FRA) AG2R La Mondiale s.t. 6  Hugo Hofstetter (FRA) Cofidis s.t. 7  Michał Kwiatkowski (POL) Team Sky s.t. 8  Oliver Naesen (BEL) AG2R La Mondiale s.t. 9  Marco Canola (ITA) Nippo–Vini Fantini–Europa Ovini s.t. 10  Angelo Tulik (FRA) Direct Énergie s.t.

General classification after Stage 1[5][7] Rank Rider Team Time 1  Danny van Poppel (NED) LottoNL–Jumbo 4h 34' 03" 2  Luka Mezgec (SLO) Mitchelton–Scott + 4" 3  Jürgen Roelandts (BEL) BMC Racing Team + 6" 4  Daniel McLay (GBR) EF Education First–Drapac p/b Cannondale + 10" 5  Clément Venturini (FRA) AG2R La Mondiale s.t. 6  Hugo Hofstetter (FRA) Cofidis s.t. 7  Michał Kwiatkowski (POL) Team Sky s.t. 8  Oliver Naesen (BEL) AG2R La Mondiale s.t. 9  Marco Canola (ITA) Nippo–Vini Fantini–Europa Ovini s.t. 10  Angelo Tulik (FRA) Direct Énergie s.t.

Stage 2

Stage 2 result[5][8] Rank Rider Team Time 1  Alejandro Valverde (ESP) Movistar Team 3h 53' 55" 2  Luis León Sánchez (ESP) Astana s.t. 3  Jakob Fuglsang (DEN) Astana s.t. 4  Giovanni Visconti (ITA) Bahrain–Merida + 19" 5  Greg Van Avermaet (BEL) BMC Racing Team s.t. 6  Merhawi Kudus (ERI) Team Dimension Data s.t. 7  Pello Bilbao (ESP) Astana s.t. 8  Alexis Vuillermoz (FRA) AG2R La Mondiale s.t. 9  Ben Hermans (BEL) Israel Cycling Academy s.t. 10  Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton–Scott s.t.

General classification after Stage 2[5][8] Rank Rider Team Time 1  Alejandro Valverde (ESP) Movistar Team 8h 27' 58" 2  Luis León Sánchez (ESP) Astana + 4" 3  Jakob Fuglsang (DEN) Astana + 6" 4  Wout Poels (NED) Team Sky + 29" 5  Diego Rosa (ITA) Team Sky s.t. 6  Pello Bilbao (ESP) Astana s.t. 7  Greg Van Avermaet (BEL) BMC Racing Team s.t. 8  David de la Cruz (ESP) Team Sky s.t. 9  Primož Roglič (SLO) LottoNL–Jumbo s.t. 10  Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team s.t.

Stage 3

The time trial result was neutralised.^[5]

Stage 3 result[5][9] Rank Team Time 1 BMC Racing Team 27' 24" 2 Astana + 1' 08" 3 AG2R La Mondiale + 1' 12" 4 Gazprom–RusVelo + 1' 36" 5 CCC–Sprandi–Polkowice s.t. 6 Team Katusha–Alpecin + 1' 43" 7 Euskadi–Murias + 1' 46" 8 Sport Vlaanderen–Baloise + 1' 54" 9 Cofidis + 2' 14" 10 Direct Énergie + 2' 15"

General classification after Stage 3[5][9] Rank Rider Team Time 1  Alejandro Valverde (ESP) Movistar Team 8h 27' 58" 2  Luis León Sánchez (ESP) Astana + 4" 3  Jakob Fuglsang (DEN) Astana + 6" 4  Wout Poels (NED) Team Sky + 29" 5  Diego Rosa (ITA) Team Sky s.t. 6  Pello Bilbao (ESP) Astana s.t. 7  Greg Van Avermaet (BEL) BMC Racing Team s.t. 8  David de la Cruz (ESP) Team Sky s.t. 9  Primož Roglič (SLO) LottoNL–Jumbo s.t. 10  Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team s.t.

Stage 4

Stage 4 result[5][10] Rank Rider Team Time 1  Alejandro Valverde (ESP) Movistar Team 4h 48' 35" 2  Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton–Scott + 4" 3  Luis León Sánchez (ESP) Astana s.t. 4  Jesús Herrada (ESP) Cofidis + 9" 5  Primož Roglič (SLO) LottoNL–Jumbo + 10" 6  Jakob Fuglsang (DEN) Astana s.t. 7  Pello Bilbao (ESP) Astana + 15" 8  Roman Kreuziger (CZE) Mitchelton–Scott + 18" 9  Kilian Frankiny (SUI) BMC Racing Team + 24" 10  Ben Hermans (BEL) Israel Cycling Academy + 30"

General classification after Stage 4[5][10] Rank Rider Team Time 1  Alejandro Valverde (ESP) Movistar Team 13h 16' 23" 2  Luis León Sánchez (ESP) Astana + 14" 3  Jakob Fuglsang (DEN) Astana + 26" 4  Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton–Scott + 37" 5  Jesús Herrada (ESP) Cofidis + 48" 6  Primož Roglič (SLO) LottoNL–Jumbo + 49" 7  Pello Bilbao (ESP) Astana + 54" 8  Roman Kreuziger (CZE) Mitchelton–Scott + 57" 9  Kilian Frankiny (SUI) BMC Racing Team + 1' 03" 10  Amaro Antunes (POR) CCC–Sprandi–Polkowice + 1' 09"

Stage 5

Stage 5 result[5][11] Rank Rider Team Time 1  Jürgen Roelandts (BEL) BMC Racing Team 2h 58' 26" 2  Danny van Poppel (NED) LottoNL–Jumbo s.t. 3  Clément Venturini (FRA) AG2R La Mondiale + 1" 4  Nelson Soto (COL) Caja Rural–Seguros RGA s.t. 5  Baptiste Planckaert (BEL) Team Katusha–Alpecin s.t. 6  Christophe Noppe (BEL) Sport Vlaanderen–Baloise s.t. 7  Marco Canola (ITA) Nippo–Vini Fantini–Europa Ovini s.t. 8  Yevgeniy Gidich (KAZ) Astana s.t. 9  Jonas Koch (GER) CCC–Sprandi–Polkowice s.t. 10  Hugo Hofstetter (FRA) Cofidis s.t.

Classifications

Final general classification[11] Rank Rider Team Time 1  Alejandro Valverde (ESP) Movistar Team 16h 14' 53" 2  Luis León Sánchez (ESP) Astana + 14" 3  Jakob Fuglsang (DEN) Astana + 26" 4  Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton–Scott + 37" 5  Jesús Herrada (ESP) Cofidis + 48" 6  Primož Roglič (SLO) LottoNL–Jumbo + 49" 7  Pello Bilbao (ESP) Astana + 54" 8  Roman Kreuziger (CZE) Mitchelton–Scott + 57" 9  Kilian Frankiny (SUI) BMC Racing Team + 1' 03" 10  Amaro Antunes (POR) CCC–Sprandi–Polkowice + 1' 09"

Final combined classification[11] Rank Rider Team Points 1  Thomas Sprengers (BEL) Sport Vlaanderen–Baloise 56 2  Ibai Salas (ESP) Burgos BH 100 3  Michał Kwiatkowski (POL) Team Sky 106 4  Paul Ourselin (FRA) Direct Énergie 124 5  Mathias Van Gompel (BEL) Sport Vlaanderen–Baloise 130 6  Jon Ander Insausti (ESP) Bahrain–Merida 135 7  José Manuel Díaz (ESP) Israel Cycling Academy 158 8  Jesús Alberto Rubio (ESP) Inteja Dominican Cycling Team 179

Final mountains classification[11] Rank Rider Team Points 1  Preben Van Hecke (BEL) Sport Vlaanderen–Baloise 27 2  Cristián Rodríguez (ESP) Caja Rural–Seguros RGA 21 3  Alejandro Valverde (ESP) Movistar Team 20 4  Mathias Van Gompel (BEL) Sport Vlaanderen–Baloise 17 5  Garikoitz Bravo (ESP) Euskadi–Murias 17 6  Luis León Sánchez (ESP) Astana 12 7  Jon Ander Insausti (ESP) Bahrain–Merida 11 8  Jakob Fuglsang (DEN) Astana 9 9  Bryan Nauleau (FRA) Direct Énergie 9 10  Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton–Scott 8

Final young rider classification[11] Rank Rider Team Time 1  Kilian Frankiny (SUI) BMC Racing Team 16h 15' 56" 2  Gianni Moscon (ITA) Team Sky + 10" 3  Merhawi Kudus (ERI) Team Dimension Data + 18" 4  Neilson Powless (USA) LottoNL–Jumbo + 52" 5  Matteo Fabbro (ITA) Team Katusha–Alpecin + 1' 01" 6  Steff Cras (BEL) Team Katusha–Alpecin + 3' 20" 7  Alex Aranburu (ESP) Caja Rural–Seguros RGA + 3' 54" 8  Jaime Rosón (ESP) Movistar Team + 4' 24" 9  Aleksandr Vlasov (RUS) Gazprom–RusVelo + 4' 27" 10  Luka Pibernik (SLO) Bahrain–Merida + 4' 33"

Final teams classification[11] Rank Team Time 1 Astana 48h 46' 25" 2 Team Sky + 2' 13" 3 BMC Racing Team + 2' 29" 4 Mitchelton–Scott + 3' 30" 5 AG2R La Mondiale + 6' 25" 6 LottoNL–Jumbo + 6' 40" 7 Bahrain–Merida + 9' 53" 8 Team Katusha–Alpecin + 11' 50" 9 CCC–Sprandi–Polkowice + 13' 10" 10 Euskadi–Murias + 14' 24"