Alejandro the 3rd at the top of the Fuerte del Rapitán (Jaca)

Alejandro the 3rd at the top of the Fuerte del Rapitán

He is now 6th overall 54” behind Joaquín Rodríguez

Here are Alejandro’s quotes after the finish in Jaca. You can also listen to what he said (in Spanish) if you click on the under PDF.

“I think the overview must be good. We made a strong bet for the stage win, but you can’t always take it — at least we were there until the very end. When Froome attacked, I was on Contador’s wheel, he lost a big of distance and, counting that I wasn’t already super and I came a bit dubious about closing the gap, they took some meters. When I saw that the stage win was impossible, I went on full throttle after the last turn to take some time on Contador and snatch the bonus seconds. It seems like we are the four strongest men on course and we’re very much equal to each other, even though I already stated I don’t know how much time I’ll stay this way. We must get through this day by day. Today’s finish was good for me, but even better for Purito thanks to his explosive conditions, and he took advantage of that. There are still a lot of summit finishes coming up, plus we mustn’t forget the ITT, where we expect not to lose too much time. The stage was super hard, not only by the heat, but also by the rolling terrain, over bad roads, wind, much tension… The team was sensational. They made an impressive approach to the climb. Positioning was absolutely important here and we came into perfect situation. They were genius, from the first to the last one. We couldn’t crown it but as well Cobo as myself, we were close. It’s very important for us to see how Juanjo is already doing, because I think he’ll end the Vuelta in really good shape.”