Alejandro resists climbling Peña Carbarga

Alejandro resists climbling Peña Carbarga

and remains third overall

The Cantabrian climb of Peña Cabarga (Cat-1), the first of three decisive, mountain-top finishes of the 2013 Vuelta a España in the North, closed the gaps even more but did not make any position changes between the main GC riders, still led by Vincenzo Nibali.

Horner, who came twenty seconds ahead of the other three top contenders and is now just three seconds off the lead. Valverde put five seconds on Nibali to keep his 3rd place, 1.09 behind the red jersey and 1.15 ahead of the fourth spot, with still two mountain stages to go.

Alejandro’s quotes (audio available below):

“When one gives his best, he has to be satisfied about it. The team worked a lot and I must thank all of them for their support. Horner was unstoppable – he seems like the one to beat right now, but we could still keep the pace of Nibali and Purito. I went through a critical moment when Purito jumped away with Dani Moreno: I had to drop out of the group before the other guys and keep my own pace. I knew I couldn’t be keeping that speed for long. Going on my own, I could finish better than the rest, reaching Purito and even putting five seconds on Nibali.

“I didn’t know the Peña Cabarga climb, and it’s really hard. Actually, I thought the final part was even harder, but when I saw the final 300 meters, I knew I could go full gas because it wasn’t so steep. I had a 39 crankset and a 29 cassette – I think my choice was right. We will have another demanding stage at the Naranco tomorrow, but the Angliru will be even harder. They say Saturday will bring some rain, and that would make roads more dangerous, but we will only have one option: giving 100%. For the time being, we must recover and keep fighting on tomorrow’s stage.”

(Press release: www.movistarteam.com)