Down, but not out. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) insisted that the Vuelta a España is not over until the top of the Coll de la Gallina on Saturday afternoon, despite suffering a major blow to his hopes of a winning the red jersey for a second time on Friday. Valverde, who won the Vuelta in 2009, trailed race leader Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) by just 25 seconds at the start of the day, and the way his Movistar team rode - leading the peloton all day before sending Nairo Quintana on the attack on the final climb up the Coll de la Rabassa - suggested the Spaniard was out to narrow the gap or even take the jersey ahead of Saturday´s mountainous finale. Yet it was Yates who turned the tables and went on the offensive some 10km from the summit of the Andorran mountain. Valverde´s remaining teammates were unable to close the gap, and it yawned out as the rest of the contenders hesitated.ADVERTISEMENT In the end, Valverde even lost contact with the chase group, finishing 20 seconds behind Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors) and Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) and a full 1:07 behind Yates. `My rivals were better than me. That´s how it is,` Valverde said at the top of the mountain, where the Spanish media hordes piled in to begin the inquest. `I finished a bit all over the place. Unfortunately, the body doesn´t always respond the same way.`
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