Chris Froome (Team Sky) turned in a relentlessly steady climbing performance on the Vuelta a Espana's first uphill finish on the Mirador de Ézarp to finish fourth on the stage on Alexandre Geniez (FDJ) and move into third overall, at 11 seconds, on new race leader Rubén Fernández (Movistar).
Sky rode strongly in the final part of the stage to close down the gap to a bare 2:20 seconds on stage winner Alexandre Geniez (FDJ) at the foot of the Ezaro climb, but when Froome then seemingly dropped off the pace from the favourites early on, there were expressions of surprise from Spanish radio commentators.
However, not all was as it seemed. Rather than risk overheating, the Briton rode steadily and at his own pace on the climb to come through a lot of the dropped riders and finish a solid fourth on the stage, 26 seconds behind Geniez, but in the same time as Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and six seconds ahead of Nairo Quintana (Movistar). He also gained another chunk of time, 28 seconds, on Alberto Contador (Tinkoff).
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"It was definitely a climb that could catch you out if you started it too fast," Froome told a small group of reporters after the finish. "It's easy to think it was only 1.7, 1.8 kilometers long and get a bit carried away, I think a few guys did that and paid the price for it in the last 500 metres."
"But I was quite happy with how it went, the guys did a really good job getting me into the climb in a good position, [and I have] a lot of respect for guy like Kwia [Michal Kwiatkowski] and Pete [Kennaugh] Obviously they have both been in the same time as me, and Kwia was in the red [leader's] jersey." That did not stop him, as Froome pointed out, from "being a good teammate and pulling me into the bottom of the climb like that."
Asked if he was very satisfied with his day, Froome answered simply "yes. Pete {Kennaugh] was not far behind and it's nice to have him up there as well. So I'm pretty happy." Kennaugh finished 15th on the stage at 1:02.
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