Awesome Alejandro in Catalonia

Awesome Alejandro in Catalonia

Second stage win

Solo victory for Alejandro this afternoon in the fifth stage of the Tour of Catalonia. This is his second stage win in this World Tour stage race.
When only two stages are left to go, the Spaniard is now fourth overall, 16” behind new leader Australian Richie Porte.

Alejandro’s quotes:

“It was a really beautiful day for all us. We knew there was going to be some wind in the finale, the whole team was attentive and always riding on the front and we decided to accelerate. We were able to make the gap, let De Clercq and Martin behind, and also cooperated well with the other teams, since we all had an interest to leave the rivals behind – we really pushed at 100%. Once Rubén was dropped back, I saw everyone was leaving all responsibility on my shoulders into the break into the last kilometer of the climb, so I jumped away to try and shrink the field. They weren’t taking the turns into the downhill, either, so when I saw a gap, I digged, I was able to leave them behind and snatch those five more seconds.

“It’s true that now, seeing that we’re 16 seconds behind, that time we lost in Girona is awful for us. Moreover, the crash did change things completely: it wasn’t a hard blow at all, but every time you suffer a crash, you feel in pain when you wake up the following that, and combined with all the efforts into the mountain stage and me suffering with cold into the Creueta descent… all of that made me reach La Molina not in the best condition I’d have wished. Still, I think I’m doing a pretty good work in this Volta, as well myself as the whole team, and we’re really happy. Let’s see what happens until Sunday in Montjuïc. We already did great and we’ll fight for what it’s left. The GC is close, we’re pretty much equal when it comes to energy and even the bonus seconds might be key.

“Every time we come to the Volta a Catalunya we always remember Xavi a lot; we always do, in every race, and every victory we achieve, though we don’t always say it, is for him. We also remember Pablo, after his crash yesterday. Let this victory serve so we can remind him we’re by his side, riding our hearts out to make him happy – this is also for you.”