Several riders and sports directors spoke to Lavuelta.com at the start of today's stage of the Vuelta a Espana. Below you can read what they had to say.

Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin, red jersey): “I am nervous. Maybe you can’t see it but it’s because I have my poker face. It’s going to be very hard, there will be a lot of attacks. I am not thinking about Aru (behind pushed by Sanchez yesterday), I am not going to waste energy on that.”

Christian Guiberteau (Giant-Alpecin sports director): “It is going to be complicated, we don’t have a team of climbers. Tom could have an off day. He hasn’t had one yet and he is a young rider. We will see how it pans out but if they were to wait until the last climb I’d be more confident. Everybody, apart from Aru, looks tired. But even those who are tired (Valverde, Quintana, Purito) are great champions so you never know.”

Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana team manager): “We have decided on a strategy.  Fabio has been suffering from his fall and he hasn’t slept well but he’s a warrior. Tom Dumoulin is very strong but I can assure you we don’t want to end up second in the Giro and second in the Vuelta. We want to win.”

Alessandro Vanotti: (Astana): “I am in a lot of pain but I do not want to let my team mates down in this decisive stage.”

Paco Giner (Unipublic sport manager): “It’s the first time that Cercedilla hosts a Vuelta stage finish. There is a little 250-metre bump at a 7-8 per cent gradient. The Puerto de la Morcuera is the most difficult and with the Puerto de Cotos right after it’s a good place to attack.”

Dirk Demol (Trek Factory sports director): “It’s the D day, it’s a tough stage. If in the other teams, like Movistar, one sacrifices for the other, it could turn out to be very interesting.”

Didier Rous (Cofidis sports director): “The riders will do everything they can do be in the breakaway. It starts uphill so Yoann Bagot and Dani Navarro are our best options.”

Eddy Seigneur (IAM Cycling sports director): “It will depend on how Dumoulin’s rivals play it. If they start attacking early on, they have a chance. If they wait until the last climb, it could actually be Tom Dumoulin who could attack because the last ascent suits him. All the riders are tired. Sylvain (Chavanel) is still in pain, but he’s a warrior, he’s abandon only if he was amputated.”

Erik Dekker (LottoNL-Jumbo): “We will try today to be in the breakaway with Bennett and Lindeman. The others will just try to make it to Madrid.”

Valerio Tebaldi (Team Colombia sports director): “It’s the last chance to win a stage. We’re going to go in the breakaway but the fight between the big guns could  condemn the fugitives. The peloton will blow up. We will rely on Rodolfo Torres and Fabio Duarte. It’s a good Vuelta for us, with 4 riders, we were in almost every breakaway.”

Julien Jurdie (AG2r-La Mondiale sports director): “Alexis Gougeard delivered a World Tour performance. He showed a lot of character and played with the chasers. We took him to the Vuelta to make him understand the requirements of his job. Alexis has always had a problem with his weight. He doesn’t know his best weight and we don’t know it either. Achieving what he’s achieved without being at his best shows how talented he is.  We haven’t had a drink to celebrate because we need all our strength for today’s stage.”

Yvon Ledanois (BMC Racing sports director): “The top guns will write the script but we want to be part of it. Amael Moinard was in the breakaway yesterday, he was a bit upset by those who did not want to collaborate so he did not want to do too much behind Gougeard because he is from Normandy, too.  Amael has never been so fresh at the end of a grand tour. He will try to be in the breakaway again today.”

Fabrice Jeandesboz (Europcar): “Yesterday in the finale I jumped away in the final climb before Avila but it was not the right moment. Then I finished with the big guns just behind Dumoulin. I’m finishing this Vuelta quite well even if I am tired like everybody else. The question today is to know when Astana and Movistar will attack. If they do it far from the finish it’s going to be exciting.”

Neil Stephens (Orica-GreenEDGE): “It’s going to be a big battle but Tom Dumoulin will win the Vuelta. Esteban Chaves’s mission his to retain his place in the GC. Yesterday he lost a few seconds because of the cobbles, not because he was not strong.”

Franck Pineau (FDJ sports director): “Arnaud Courteille fractured his right collarbone when he crashed with Stephane Rossetto yesterday. It’s the fifth time in his career that it happens to him. He will undergo surgery in Rennes when he returns to France. Yesterday we were more depressed than he was because he’s really unlucky but he still did two grand tours (Giro, Vuelta) and a good Criterium du Dauphine this season.”