Alberto Contador defended his leader's jersey in today's stage of the Vuelta a Espana but was unable to distance his main rivals, including Chris Froome who was clearly suffering. The race leader refuses to rule out the Briton who may take all his time loss back in just one single stage.

Tinkoff-Saxo’s captain and leader of the Vuelta, Alberto Contador, defended his overall lead by finishing 4th in today’s tactical mountain battle together with Alejandro Valverde and Joaquim Rodriguez. Fabio Aru took the stage win 6 seconds ahead. The final 9,9 k climb of stage 11 became a tactical stop-and-go affair with several attacks. Contadorwas satisfied with the outcome of the stage.
 
“I’m happy with how the stage went. It was a very tactical battle on the final climb and I arrived at the finish line together with Alejandro and Joaquim and Froome a couple of meters behind us. They are very fast so they overtook me in the sprint, but I’m satisfied”, says Alberto Contador.

"It’s a very competitive Vuelta but we’re only at half way into it," he added. "I’ve got good feelings. I’m happy about that. Quintana’s crash is a very bad news. He was an important rider of the Vuelta. 2014 is a crazy season for the Grand Tours favorites who have to go home injured before the end: Froome and I at the Tour, Joaquim [Rodriguez] at the Giro…

"Froome doesn’t seem to be the same as at the Dauphiné this year or at the Tour last year but we always have to be careful of him. In a single day, he’s likely to recover all the time he lost. With Valverde, the difference is close to nothing : only 20 seconds, it’s very tight.

"I congratulate Aru for what he did today but I’m not surprised. Watching the Giro on TV, he reminded me of myself: he’s courageous and he’s got good changes of rhythm. He’s gonna be a star."
 
The relatively flat first part of the 153-kilometer long stage started with a frantic pace taking its toll on the riders of this year’s Vuelta a España. Tinkoff-Saxo’s captain was delivered safely by his teammates at the start of the final climb to Santuario de San Miguel. The peloton kept a high tempo on the first part instantaneously diminishing the number of riders, who were able to keep up.

While the favorites held back their attacks, riders just outside the top-10 made the move halfway up the mountain. But as they passed the two-kilometer banner, the front group was back together. Alberto Contador tested his rivals with a series of brief attacks but it was Astana’s Fabio Aru, who countered, created the gap and held it to the finish line. Sport Director Steven de Jongh was pleased with how the team performed.
 
“There was a breakaway with 5 riders. The strongest rider out there was Kiryienka and when it started becoming dangerous for the stage victory, Katusha started to work and that was to our advantage. In the final, Alberto followed the most important riders and I think finished in fourth place, just behind Valverde and Rodriguez. He loses a few seconds because of bonus seconds but overall it was a good day”, explains Steven de Jongh.
 
After yesterday’s time trial, Tinkoff-Saxo had the red leader’s jersey for the first time in this year’s Vuelta. For Jesus Hernandez the stage was about protecting Contador and he believes that the team is ready to take on the responsibility.
 
“It was our first day defending the red jersey. The start was a bit nervous and there were a lot of people that wanted to break away. The team performed very well, Tosatto, Bennati and Michael [Valgren] rode well. And then we also witnessed the unfortunate crash that sent Quintana home. Katusha set a fast pace in the race as they wanted to take the stage and we limited ourselves to following them. I look forward to the tougher stages and Oliver, Chris Anker and myself are ready, particularly for the last week and the mountain stages. I think we are getting better each day”, concludes Jesus Hernandez.