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Brandon McNulty took an impressive solo victory on the shortened stage 4 at the Volta Valenciana, crossing the line at the top of the steep final climb Alto del Miserat ahead of Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious), and Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe).
A perfectly timed attack with -2.2km would catch his breakaway companions off-guard and strong legs would see him hold his lead until the line.
McNulty : “We heard on the radio about 40km to go that the finish was early, so we had to change a little bit. It was chaos, but in the end, cycling is like this sometimes, and you just adapt. The team put me into position at the bottom of the climb, and it was full gas to the top. A lot can still happen tomorrow but we’ll go all in to defend the yellow jersey.”
McNulty becomes the first American in history to lead the Vuelta Valenciana and leads the GC by +8” over Buitrago going into tomorrow’s final stage from Bétera to Valencia (93km).
Meanwhile the final stage of the AlUla Tour saw Finn Fisher-Black take his career best result in a General Classification, finishing on the final podium of the AlUla Tour in Saudi Arabia.
The Kiwi was within touching distance of taking the overall win but bonus seconds would see him finish in 3rd place, just 3” short of the victory which went to Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla).
Fisher-Black: “I felt really good on the climb and getting the bonus seconds gave me a bit of confidence. I though I might be able to do something in the final sprint, though I knew in the back of my mind that Simon (Yates) was fast. I opened up the sprint and the legs had northing , but I gave everything and left it all on the road.
I had Rafal (Majka) in my ear the whole time on the radio and talking with me on the climb and telling me to save as much as possible. It was just about being patient until the end. I’m a bit disappointed but also happy to be in a GC situation and I think it’s a good learning experience for the future.”
Vuelta Valenciana stage 4 results
1.Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) 4:08:28
2.Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) +8”
3.Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) s.t
General Classification after stage 4
1.Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) 16:04:08
2.Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) +13”
3.Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) +16”
AlUla Tour Stage 5 results
1.Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla) 3:24:37
2.William Junior Lecerf (Soudal Quickstep) s.t
3.Finn Fisher-Black (UAE Team Emirates) s.t
AlUla Tour Final Results
1.Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla) 18:37:05
2.William Junior Lecerf (Soudal Quickstep) +3”
3.Finn Fisher-Black (UAE Team Emirates) s.t
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