All-American victory at Volta a la Comunitat Valencia as Brandon McNulty takes overall

The Volta a la Comunitat Valencia concluded today after five stages of action with a stunning solo breakaway victory for Movistar’s Will Barta. The American took his first pro win following a faultless 50km solo ride, having been a part of the day’s early break.

Barta’s win was the icing on the cake on a great day for American cycling, with UAE Team Emirates’ Brandon McNulty securing the overall win after his victory on the Queen stage yesterday.

The breakaway took two wins out of five in Valencia, bookending the race with surprise victories, as Barta held strong in the face of first the GC teams, then the encroaching sprint teams, winning by a margin of just 8 seconds. Jonathan Milan, in the orange points jersey, won the bunch sprint behind.

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Brandon McNulty celebrates the overall victory

Beginning inland in Bétera, and returning south to the Costa Blanca for the conclusion of the race, the final act was a short, sharp 93km stage finishing in the race’s home city of Valencia.

Following his victory on stage 4, McNulty took control of the yellow leader’s jersey, and with a flat finish it would be very difficult for the other GC teams to make an impact. However, with a margin of only 14 seconds to second-placed Santiago Buitrago and just three more to Aleksandr Vlasov, there were no guarantees that UAE’s day defending their lead would go their way. Bahrain Victorious and BORA Hansgrohe both had two riders in the top 5, and with a first category climb looming on which to make a difference, some strong attacking could potentially have an impact.

With less than 100km to cover, it didn’t take long for a breakaway to become established. A group of five riders separated themselves from the bunch, and the quintet had nationality in common, featuring four Spaniards riding for pro continental teams and one World Tour rider, American Will Barta, riding for a Spanish team, Movistar. The fiesta was crashed shortly after by Italian Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) to make it six riders, and the group moved out to three minutes clear of the peloton as the route traversed the first categorised climb of the day.

The category 1 Puerto de la La Frontera climb bisected the day’s route, and with 5km of ascent at an average gradient of 9.3%, it offered the opportunity for attacks. Will Barta took the opportunity to strike out alone in search of a long-range solo victory, with just over 50km still to ride.

© Sprint Cycling Agency

Bora Hansgrohe take control of the bunch

Back in the bunch, BORA hansgrohe took control of the chase in the hopes of pushing the pace and putting McNulty into difficulties, but it seemed a futile endeavour, as the American sat comfortably on the wheel of the German team. Vlasov tried an attack but it was a short-lived, with McNulty and Buitrago neutralising, and with a small bunch of GC riders moving ahead of the rest, the gap to the lone leader Barta steadied at just under 1.30.

Bahrain-Victorious were next to try their luck with Pello Bilbao briefly gapping the rest but once again he was kept on a tight leash by McNulty and the rest of the GC group, and as they crested the summit of La Frontera, it seemed to be a stalemate situation, with the questions remaining: could the leaders catch Barta, and could the dropped teams – led by a determined Lidl-Trek team riding for Jonathan Milan – catch the GC group to force a sprint finish?

With around 20km of descent to cover, it was unsurprising that Matej Mohorič once again came to the fore, followed bravely by Movistar’s Spanish champion Oier Lazkano, but with 30km remaining UAE once again took control, chasing down Barta who defended a 45 second lead. This gradually diminished as the kilometres ticked down and with the second peloton bridging the gap to the group of GC favourites, it looked likely to spell disaster for Barta’s hopes of a breakaway victory, and all but guaranteed the day would conclude with a bunch sprint.

But Barta held off the onslaught from Lidl-Trek and Euskaltel-Euskadi, maintaining a fragile gap of around 17 seconds for kilometre after kilometre as the race approached Valencia. With Caja Rural adding their support and the GC teams in close order, the gap dropped to 11 seconds at one point, before the technical twists and turns of the streets of Valencia, combined with clever disruption tactics from Barta’s teammate Lazkano, stymied the chase.

It was to prove decisive, as though the sprint hopefuls bore down on him, Barta was able to remain clear of the pack and raise his arms for the first time in his professional career, to the delight of his team.