The stage was eventually won by Orica-GreenEdge’s Esteban Chaves, who was the strongest rider on the final climb and he took again the lead.

 

Tom Van Asbroeck, who’s making his Grand Tour debut in this Vuelta, suffered. “The first seventy kilometers were hard. Besides that, it was really hot. For me, personally, it was too hot but what can you do about it? The only thing you can do is to drink water, put ice over your head, ride energy efficiently and that’s what I did. I expect that there will be more hard stages in this Vuelta.”

 

Merijn Zeeman saw that his riders did everything they could to get in the breakaway. “We really competed in the first hour and were often present, but nobody got space and so it became more and more difficult to get away. Timo Roosen was part of a small group with Sagan but it was the attempt after who made it.”

 

Zeeman wants his team to get involved at the front again on Friday. “We’ll see if the peloton is going to control or not. Until now the bunch always kept the break in mind, but we don’t care. We are going to give everything we have in order to get in the breakaway.”