Alejandro Valverde holds off Ivan Sosa at La Route d'Occitanie to take first victory since return from injury

The world champion held off Ivan Sosa to take the overall classification by just eight seconds

Alejandro Valverde at La Flèche Wallonne 2019 (Photo by Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images)

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) made a triumphant return from injury after he took the overall win at La Route d'Occitanie.

Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) doubled up his tally of stage victories in the four-day race, pipping Sacha Modolo (EF Education First) and Julien Simon (Cofidis) in the sprint finish.

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Hi. I'm Cycling Weekly's Weekend Editor. I like writing offbeat features and eating too much bread when working out on the road at bike races.


Before joining Cycling Weekly I worked at The Tab and I've also written for Vice, Time Out, and worked freelance for The Telegraph (I know, but I needed the money at the time so let me live).


I also worked for ITV Cycling between 2011-2018 on their Tour de France and Vuelta a España coverage. Sometimes I'd be helping the producers make the programme and other times I'd be getting the lunches. Just in case you were wondering - Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen had the same ham sandwich every day, it was great.