A well-calculated stage victory for Alejandro Valverde on Wednesday in the Volta a Catalunya`s uphill finish at La Molina poured oil on some distinctly troubled waters for Movistar - and sent a clear message to his rivals that despite the setbacks, Valverde still counts for the GC battle, too. In the space of just one roller coaster 24-hour period, things initially could not have been better for Valverde when he and Movistar won the team time trial on Tuesday and Valverde moved into a dominating position overall just behind teammate and race leader Jose Joaquin Rojas. Eight years on, a second Volta a Catalunya overall victory for Valverde seemed more than in the cards. However, the different punishments meted out by the UCI commissaires saw Valverde first move into the race lead after Rojas was given a three-minute penalty - but into a social media storm of controversy at the same time, over whether it was fair Valverde had not been penalised as well. Then things went even more pear-shaped for the Movistar leader when on Wednesday morning, prior to stage 3, the commissaires opted to give a one-minute blanket penalty to the entire squad. Suddenly Valverde dipped from first to 15th overall.ADVERTISEMENT However, the Spaniard bounced back with a vengeance at La Molina just a few hours later, claiming a stage victory ahead of last year`s winner on the climb, Dan Martin (Quick Step Floors), and providing a much-needed boost to team morale. The 2009 Volta a Catalunya winner is also fourth overall, too, just 45 seconds back on new race leader Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team) and very much back in the running for victory on Sunday. `The last 50 kilometres were very fast, and the last kilometre was even quicker,` Valverde, well wrapped up against the cold, told reporters after the fifth Volta stage win of his career. `Fortunately, we had [teammate] Marc Soler there controlling it all, Adam Yates (Orica-Scott) made a move, Martin went after him and then I went af ...
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