ORIO, Spain (AP) — Joaquin Rodriguez has won the fifth stage of the Tour of Basque Country and fellow Spaniard Alejandro Valverde retained the overall lead by 1 second over American Chris Horner.
Team Katusha’s Rodriguez clocked 4 hours, 7 minutes, 52 seconds on Friday’s mountain stage, finishing 14 seconds ahead of a three-man pack led by Samuel Sanchez. Valverde finished third in the same time, as did the fourth-placed Horner of Team RadioShack.
Valverde says he is evenly matched with his American rival, but is “betting on myself for the final victory.”
The final stage is a 13.7-mile time trial in Orio on Saturday.