A day of ups and downs
RUI Costa pulled off a surprise in Valencia to win the overall classification of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana.
The Portuguese rider from Intermarché Circus Wanty won the last stage with the finish at l'Oceanogràfic in Valencia city and took the overall classification from the Italian Giulio Ciccone by 16 seconds. Tao Geoghegan Hart, who suffered a fall in the final kilometres, took third place on the podium.
There was chaos in the last stage of the race. What looked like a dangerous but salvageable day for overall leader Giulio
Ciccone, turned into a real madness in the final kilometres.
All the favourites for the general classification arrived at the last three kilometres of the stage in a small group and, amidst the confusion, the smartest rider was Portugal's Rui Costa.
The Intermarché Circus Wanty rider attacked and, together with Thymen Arensman, managed to distance the rest, crossing the finish line with enough advantage to, together with the time bonus for the stage victory, also take the overall.
The day started shortly before 15.00 in Paterna.
The faces of the riders at the signature control foreshadowed the chaos that was to follow. There were few or no smiles, tension and nerves in a peloton that knew that any slip-up could turn the general classification upside down. And it did. Until the first category climb to La Frontera, the main challenge of the day, everything remained within logical parameters.
Vlasov's Bora-Hansgrohe laid down the hurt at the bottom of the climb and split the peloton completely. Only the favourites for the general classification and a few others remained at the front. They reached the top of the climb together and set out to tackle the 30 kilometres to the finish line. Nobody wanted to attack, but neither did they want to relax. The following group was strong, but it did not have enough in the tank, meaning the stage, and possibly overall victory, was there for the rider who went for it.
And the one who went for it was Rui Costa. The Portuguese cyclist, the oldest rider in the group, attacked just before the finish line and found in Thymen Arensman, with no options for the general classification, a perfect ally. Both entered the finishing sprint together, with Rui Costa in front, achieving the double. Stage victory and yellow jersey.
Behind, as a result of the
confusion, there was a fall that generated more chaos, if that was possible, as the affected riders had to wait for the decision of the commissaires on the time assigned to each cyclist - as the fall was within the last three kilometres.
In the end, Rui Costa was first, Giulio Ciccone second and Tao Geoghegan Hart third, in what was, without a doubt, a Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana finish that will never be forgotten.
It was a day of true madness to say goodbye to the VCV 2023, a race that provided a spectacle from the first stage to the last.
With that the race said goodbye until 2024, when it will celebrate its 75th anniversary.