Spanish National Champs: Elite Men's Road Race
Valverde got it at last! The Spanish talent finished off an excellent teamwork by the whole Caisse d'Epargne contingent and outsprinted Oscar Sevilla to clinch the "maillot rojigualda".

Alejandro Valverde will be aiming for a Tour de France victory with the maillot rojigualda (the Spanish National Champion jersey) on his shoulders. The Caisse d'Epargne ultra talented rider triumphed in Sunday's Elite Men RR event as he out sprinted fellow escapee Oscar Sevilla after both guys made the right move about 30 kilometres from the finish. Valverde's teammate Oscar Pereiro of "Tour de France 2006 fame" made Caisse's day complete by taking the remaining podium spot.

Alejandro Valverde does a pre race interview. Photo © 2008 Victor Solís

Caisse d'Epargne dominated affairs basically from beginning to end, and once David Arroyo's early move was over, it was up to "Bala Verde" and Pereiro to finish off the job done by the team all through the event. Arroyo attacked alongside another protagonist of the day, Oscar Sevilla, at km. 95, while climbing the six-kilometre Alto del Piélago for the second time (the only difficult of the day came halfway through the 68 kilometre circuit around Talavera de la Reina town, to be covered thrice, the race parcours consisted of) after a previous breakaway group of ten (with José Ivan Gutiérrez for the Caisse armada) was chased down.

Rock Racing's Oscar Sevilla leads the break
Photo © 2008 Victor Solís

Well, not all of breakaway men though: Gutiérrez himself managed to stay clear, and helped his team mate as much - and as long - as he could. The lead trio turned into a pair as Guti just couldn't follow the tempo any further and got dropped after 158 kilometres.

Alejandro Valverde wins the Spanish National Championship!
Photo © 2008 Victor Solís

It didn't take long for Sevilla to blow Arroyo off his wheels too, but Caisse reacted again, and Valverde finally came into action, got across to Oscar in just a couple kilometres as the race hit Piélago again, so that the two guys started the 20-kilometre descent together on the front. Saunier's Juan José Cobo and Eladio Jiménez of the Portuguese team Fercase-Rota dos Móveis started chasing, but ended up being pulled back into the grupo while the lead pair continued their winning ride, with Valverde unsurprisingly prevailing over Sevilla in the two-man battle over the day's honours.

The first after-race words from the brand new Spanish champion were as follows: "Today, exactly the same way they did it since the beginning of the season, my team-mates of Caisse d’Epargne achieved a perfect job and I had nothing to do but finish what they started”, the rider from Murcia declared just after he won his first title of Spanish champion. “The course of this championship was very difficult and that was a very good thing for me. I thought I was able to go alone behind Sevilla who was in the lead and I indeed caught him. From that moment on I was very calm because I knew my team-mates perfectly controlled the race behind. Logically I am faster than Sevilla but you never know what can happen in such a sprint with only two riders. But I won the race! And now the Tour! That is another story but I am very proud to present myself at the start with the jersey of Spanish champion on the shoulders".

Spanish National Championships
Men's Road Race Results
1. VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro GCE 5h13'13" 140
2. SEVILLA RIBERA Oscar RRC 01" 84

3. PEREIRO SIO Oscar GCE 01'04" 70
4. ROVIRA POUS Jaume SPI 01'04" 63
5. FLORENCIO CABRE Xavier BTL 01'04" 56
6. TONDO VOLPINI Xavier POV 01'04" 49

7. RUIZ SANCHEZ Jose ACA 01'06" 42
8. MORENO FERNANDEZ Daniel GCE 01'06" 36
9. VAZQUEZ HUESO Manuel GNM 01'06" 30
10. URIBARRI ARTABE Unai ORB 01'06" 26
11. MARTINEZ ACEVEDO Serafin KGZ 01'06" 22
12. CARRASCO RAMIREZ Jose Antonio ACA 01'06" 18
13. ZABALLA GUTIERREZ Constantino POV 01'06" 15
14. PARDILLA BELLON Sergio VMC 01'06" 12
15. COBO ACEBO Juan Jose SDV 01'06" 11
16. JIMENEZ SANCHEZ Eladio FRM 01'06" 10
17. HERRADA LOPEZ Jose GNM 01'06" 9
18. PLAZA MOLINA Ruben SLB 01'06" 8
19. BARREDO LLAMAZALES Carlos QST 01'11" 7
20. ROJAS GIL Jose Joaquin GCE 01'54" 6
21. GARATE Juan Manuel QST 01'54" 5
22. MARTINEZ PEREZ Francisco Jose ACA 01'54" 5
23. MARTINEZ DE ESTEBAN Egoi EUS 01'54" 5
24. ORTEGA OCANA Manuel ACA 01'54" 5
25. MORENO BAZAN Javier ACA 01'54" 5
26. DUENAS NEVADO Moises BAR 01'54" 5
27. LASTRAS GARCIA Pablo GCE 01'54" 5
28. SANCHEZ GIL Luis Leon GCE 01'58" 5
29. PALOMARES VILLAPLANA Adrian GNM 01'58" 5
30. MANCEBO PEREZ Francisco FRM 01'58" 5
31. ARROYO DURAN David GCE 03'05" 0
32. GARCIA ACOSTA Jose Vicente GCE 03'05" 0
33. GUTIERREZ ALVAREZ Pedro VMC 03'05" 0
34. RODRIGUEZ OLIVER Alberto GNM 03'05" 0
35. MONDELO DIAZ Josu SPI 03'05" 0
36. RAMIREZ TORRES Jesus SPI 03'05" 0
37. CALVENTE GORBAS Manuel GNM 03'05" 0
38. MATA CABELLO Martin VMC 03'05" 0
39. DOMINGUEZ LEMOS Gustavo KGZ 03'05" 0
40. GARRIDO LIMA Jose Antonio POV 03'05" 0
41. SANCHEZ PIMIENTA Julian GNM 03'05" 0
42. PEREZ ARRIETA Aitor SPI 03'05" 0
43. SALGUEIRO ALONSO Enrique SPI 03'05" 0
44. FERNANDEZ CRUZ Delio KGZ 03'05" 0
45. CASAS GALLEGO Claudio Jose ACA 12'45" 0
46. BUENDIA ROMERO Jesus GNM 12'45" 0
47. HERRERO DOMINGUEZ Sergio SPI 19'52" 0
48. LOPEZ GIL Jose Antonio ACA 20'08" 0
49. CARRASCO GAMIZ Jose Luis ACA 20'08" 0
50. PALEO Alejandro KGZ 20'08" 0
51. FERNANDEZ OLIVEIRA Luis BSP 20'08" 0
52. REDONDO RAMOS Jose Antonio ACA 20'08" 0
53. ARAMENDIA LORENTE Javier EUS 20'08" 0
54. OLMO MENACHO Juan ACA 20'08" 0
55. ROSENDO PRADO Jesus ACA 20'08" 0
56. ZAMBRANO CALDERON Gonzalo SPI 20'08" 0
57. RODRIGUEZ HERNANDEZ Alexis FRM 20'08" 0
58. TERCIADO SACEDO Francisco Jose SPI 20'08" 0
59. DEL NERO MONTES Jesus SDV 20'08" 0
60. ESTRADA RUIZ Juan Javier ACA 20'08" 0
61. REIG CONEJERO Ruben GNM 20'08" 0
62. LOBATO ELVIRA Ruben SDV 20'08" 0
63. TXURRUKA ANSOLA Amets EUS 20'08" 0
64. DOMINGUEZ MUNOZ Sergio GNM 20'08" 0
65. GUTIERREZ PASTOR Cecilio ACA 20'08" 0
66. ETXARRI MARIN Javier GNM 20'08" 0
67. DE LA FUENTE RASILLA David SDV 20'08" 0
68. MATE MARDONES Luis Angel ACA 20'08" 0
69. DE LIS ANDRES Sergio ORB 20'08" 0
70. PACHECO TORRES Francisco Jose BSP 20'08" 0
71. AGIRRE ASEGINOLAZA Josu EUS 20'08" 0
72. GARCIA RENA Rodrigo SPI 20'08" 0
73. GONZALO RAMIREZ Eduardo AGR 20'08" 0
74. GALLEGO ARNAIZ Diego VMC 20'08" 0
75. LOPEZ GARCIA David GCE 20'08" 0
76. ZANDIO ECHAIDE Xabier GCE 20'08" 0
77. PUJOL MUNOZ Oscar

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