Tinkoff-Saxo’s captain and leader of the Vuelta, Alberto Contador, defended his overall lead by finishing 4th in today’s tactical mountain battle together with Alejandro Valverde and Joaquim Rodriguez. Fabio Aru took the stage win 6 seconds ahead. The final 9,9 k climb of stage 11 became a tactical stop-and-go affair with several attacks. Alberto was satisfied with the outcome of the stage.
“I’m happy with how the stage went. It was a very tactical battle on the final climb and I arrived at the finish line together with Alejandro and Joaquim and Froome a couple of meters behind us. They are very fast so they overtook me in the sprint, but I’m satisfied”, says Alberto Contador.
The relatively flat first part of the 153-kilometer long stage started with a frantic pace taking its toll on the riders of this year’s Vuelta a España. Tinkoff-Saxo’s captain was delivered safely by his teammates at the start of the final climb to Santuario de San Miguel. The peloton kept a high tempo on the first part instantaneously diminishing the number of riders, who were able to keep up.
While the favorites held back their attacks, riders just outside the top-10 made the move halfway up the mountain. But as they passed the two-kilometer banner, the front group was back together. Alberto Contador tested his rivals with a series of brief attacks but it was Astana’s Fabio Aru, who countered, created the gap and held it to the finish line. Sport Director Steven de Jongh was pleased with how the team performed.
“There was a breakaway with 5 riders. The strongest rider out there was Kiryienka and when it started becoming dangerous for the stage victory, Katusha started to work and that was to our advantage. In the final, Alberto followed the most important riders and I think finished in fourth place, just behind Valverde and Rodriguez. He loses a few seconds because of bonus seconds but overall it was a good day”, explains Steven de Jongh.
After yesterday’s time trial, Tinkoff-Saxo had the red leader’s jersey for the first time in this year’s Vuelta. For Jesus Hernandez the stage was about protecting Alberto and he believes that the team is ready to take on the responsibility.
“It was our first day defending the red jersey. The start was a bit nervous and there were a lot of people that wanted to break away. The team performed very well, Tosatto, Bennati and Michael rode well. And then we also witnessed the unfortunate crash that sent Quintana home. Katusha set a fast pace in the race as they wanted to take the stage and we limited ourselves to following them. I look forward to the tougher stages and Oliver, Chris Anker and myself are ready, particularly for the last week and the mountain stages. I think we are getting better each day”, concludes Jesus Hernandez.
