Sunday 21 February 2016 18:32, UK
Alejandro Valverde claimed his fourth overall win in five years at the Ruta del Sol in Spain by climbing to a solo victory on Sunday's final stage.
The 35-year-old Movistar rider, who started the day 22 seconds down on leader Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing), attacked 7km from the summit finish at Penas Blancas and held on to win by 36 seconds from runner-up Bauke Mollema (Trek Factory Racing) and 42 seconds from third-placed Rafal Majka (Tinkoff).
Van Garderen could only finish 48 seconds down in fourth place and consequently surrendered the red jersey to Valverde, who also won the race in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
American Van Garderen dropped to second place in the final general classification, 26 seconds down on Valverde, while Mollema finished the race 52 seconds adrift in third.
Valverde told cyclingnews.com: "The other three were good wins, but this was one special because it was getting very complicated, and my rivals were even tougher than usual. I knew I was going well, but not as well as this."
Van Garderen, who took the race lead by winning stage four's individual time trial, had led a belated chase of Valverde after counter-attacking 3km from the line, but he wilted in the final 1km and was overtaken by Mollema and then Majka.
Team Sky's Mikel Nieve finished the stage 1min 27sec down in ninth, which left him 2min 45sec adrift in 10th overall.
Stage five result
1 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, 4:46:51
2 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo, +36sec
3 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff, +42
4 Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing, +48
5 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Tinkoff, +1:07
Final general classification
1 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, 17:41:10
2 Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing, +26sec
3 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo, +52
4 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, +56
5 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff, +1:11
