With panache

With panache

And now to give it all in the ITT!

After he broke in the downhill of the Tourmalet and showing one more time he never gives up, Alejandro suffered in the final climb of Hautacam.

The Spaniard fought till the last meter and finally lost 24” to Jean-Christophe Peraud and 49” to Thibaut Pinot, his both most dangerous adversaries for the podium in Paris.

Alejandro is now fourth overall, but only 2 seconds behind Peraud and 15 behind Pinot. The Spanish time trial champions will now have to give it all to reconquer a well-deserved place on the podium on the occasion of the ITT that will take place on Saturday.

Alejandro’s quotes:

“At the Tourmalet I welt well, and I did also on this final climb, though the wear and tear of this race takes you to the limit, as it does with pretty much everyone. It has been a couple of days strange for me, like I was feeling a bit ill, so I had to struggle and give everything I had. I managed to keep the distance with my main rivals pretty well in the second part of the climb and I’m ‘happy’, with ditto marks, with the result and the pace I kept. We got through the day decently and we will try to keep fighting. Right now I feel tired, but Saturday’s is a time trial where I just hope I find good legs – if that’s the case, every gap can be made up. I’m not really far – with those gaps, everything is possible, and this might add even some excitement to the race. Just like I lost time today, I could gain it on Saturday – or rather the opposite. The team did everything they could, I gave what I had and we must stay happy.”

Tomorrow, stage 19: Maubourguet – Bergerac (209 km)