Belkin Pro Cycling their first Vuelta stage of this year yesterday, but they were invisible today. None of the riders joined the breakaway and when it became clear that the peloton wouldn’t see the breakaway again, they relaxed.

The winner of yesterday’s stage Bauke Mollema saved some energy to go for another victory tomorrow. He thinks that a breakaway could go all the way.

“It became clear early on that the break was going to make it. At that point, none of us had much to gain. I saved energy so I can go all out again tomorrow. An escape stands a good chance tomorrow. Of course, you never know if the other teams will want to, and can, close the gap. We want to give it a go, though, because it’s our best shot at another stage win,” he said to Belkin’s website.

German Robert Wagner got through the day well. He wasn’t completely fit yesterday, which unfortunately meant that he couldn't participate in the finale.

“I got through the day well. It was a tough ride but fortunately, I made it through without any problems. I finished in a large gruppetto. I really regretted that I couldn’t keep up on the final climb yesterday. I wasn’t completely fit, but fortunately, it already went better today. I expect all my suffering will be over soon,” Wagner said.

Belkin coach Merijn Zeeman isn’t disappointed with the result of today’s stage, but had wanted to see Juan Manuel Garate get into the breakaway, which didn’t happen. Like Mollema, Zeeman thinks the team has a very good chance of taking another stage win tomorrow.

“We didn’t see a lot of opportunities for us today. We wanted to try to get in the breakaway with Juanma [Garate] but it’s no disaster that we didn’t. If the peloton would have reeled in the break before the foot of the final climb today, Bauke wanted to give it a go, but the peloton clicked into gear too late. We were all able to save our energy for tomorrow. We think Bauke and David can win the stage. We’ll do everything to get in the mix for the win. The final is quite explosive, which suits our men,” Zeeman said.