"It was a time trial with a very steep climb, so I chose to ride my road bike."

Those were the words from Astana's Rein Taaramäe after stage six at the Vuelta al País Vasco. Taaramäe finished ninth in a very difficult uphill time trial, not one for specialist riders, with an 30% gradient on the final climb.

Taaramäe finished 36 seconds behind stage winner Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands.

Michele Scarponi finished in sixth position in General Classification, just over a minute behind overall winner Joaquim Rodriguez of Spain.