Alejandro Valverde has credited Google Maps for his impressive victory on stage four of the Vuelta a España, admitting he plotted his timely burst only after viewing the route using the website’s street view tool on the morning of the ride.
The Spaniard attacked in the final kilometre in Vejer de la Frontera, driving up the sharp finishing ascent which suited his natural climbing ability to beat Peter Sagan to the win.
“We did not know the finish and this morning we saw on Google Maps, which is the best thing since sliced bread, that it was hard – we saw that it could be good for me,” he told AS. “[Alberto] Losada was pushing hard and I saw that I could wait for those last 400m which I knew were tough.”
Despite Valverde’s stage four dominance, Colombia’s Esteban Chaves retains the overall race lead. The Tour de France champion, Chris Froome, finished in the peloton and sits ninth overall, 40secs behind the lead.
