We had everything under control

The Tinkoff-Saxo riders did a great job in retaining their team´s captain lead in the second stage of the Basque Tour. Roman crossed the finish line in the main bunch that came home 30 seconds behind the victorious Tony Martin.

“It was quite a tough stage. Our boys put in a hard effort to control the pack because the other teams that were aspiring for the stage victory started working quite late. We weren’t interested in catching the breakaway completely as we were only defending Alberto´s lead. But it doesn’t change the fact that Tony Martin pulled off a great ride and deserved the victory,” said Roman.

Alberto´s closest rival in the GC Valverde, made a move on the final ascent but his effort proved fruitless. “His attack came as a surprise for us because he didn’t have many of his teammates around. He wanted to give it a go but Alberto is on excellent form,” praised Roman his leader.

“A relatively easy stage is in store for us tomorrow so the sprinters could take their chances to score a victory so maybe we will get some help from their teams and the whole weight will not be entirely on our shoulders.”