ALMADEN, Spain (Reuters) - Spaniard Alejandro Valverde grabbed a second stage win of this year's Vuelta a Espana by pipping Peter Sagan to the finish line in a thrilling uphill sprint on Saturday to cut the gap behind overall leader Rudy Molard to 10 seconds.
The 2009 Vuelta winner nipped ahead of world champion Sagan on the final corner of the 195-km flat ride from Linares to Almaden in stage nine to top the points category and gain 10 bonus seconds on Frenchman Molard, who finished 30th in the stage in a packed 52-man peloton and retained the red jersey.