Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) gained time on all of his rivals barring Chris Froome (Team Sky) at the Xorret de Cati, but the Spanish veteran seemed only partly satisfied with his performance on stage 8 of the Vuelta a España.
Sitting in one of the few shady areas at the finish on a day when temperatures soared into the high 30s, Contador explained how he had initially distanced Froome, but that he knew that a counter-attack by the Briton would be coming at some point.
Contador managed to claw back time on Froome after hitting a difficult patch when the Briton, having duly counter-attacked, accelerated hard. But by the summit, Contador was the only rider who could remain with the Sky rider.
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However, while able to open up gaps ranging from 17 seconds on Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), Esteban Chaves (Orica-Scott) and Fabio Aru (Astana Pro Team) to nearly a minute on Simon Yates (Orica-Scott), Contador said he had not felt as strong as he had hoped.
“It’s good we keep on confirming that the time I lost in Andorra was a glitch, but Froome was going really well,” Contador said.
“But I wasn’t as good as I’d have liked, so after I attacked I changed tactics and I stayed with a Cannondale rider because I knew Froome would be coming up from behind.”
“He got back on, there was a moment while I could hold his pace, and I held him for quite a while. But then I needed to catch my breath, I eased back, and then I needed to change down three or four gears to get back on.”
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