The first mountain stage of the race saw Aussie Michael Storer conquering the Balcón de Alicante. Michael was all attack right from the first climb to ride to the finish solo with late attacker Carlos Verona finishing second. Primoz Roglic was pragmatic in his riding yesterday with the safety of the yellow jersey on his mind. He kept close to his rivals finishing in the leading riders peloton with the likes of Adam Yates, Enric Mas and Miguel Lopez. He still retain the GC lead by 8 seconds over newly second places Austrian Felix Grossschartner with Mas third. How about that crash by Alejandro Valverde of Spain at the curving overpass with 43 km to go which saw him waive bye bye to the Vuelta. It happened just when they started to put pressure on Roglic together with Richard Carapaz. The fact that that part of the road was left without guard rails when it is the most dangerous part of it would be comical if it wasn’t this serious. Could Valverde have done something to avoid the crash?

He leaned against the curve too hard. Number two he was focusing on Carapaz ahead of him instead of watching the road, its important to look at the road as to time the moment to lean in correctly. Lastly he didn’t straighten the handle bars in time. He did try to carry on with the stage for a while with some teammates in the Movistar team giving him a push but he was clearly in pain holding his shoulder. Painful exit for a guy who started the day in fourth spot in the GC. The final climb really separated the boys from the men with a 14% gradient with good leg work needed and Storer was THE MAN in the Stage of the Vuelta.