Boosting my confidence

“I´m really delighted. If I had been a bit faster I would be happier now, of course, but I gave it everything. I didn’t take any risks in the beginning and I distributed my strength sensibly. I suffered a bit more with 4km from the finish line but apart from that, I had good legs,” described Roman who went for a “spin” for one and a half hour in the morning. He put in 1000 vertical meters…“I lost 15 seconds on Nibali and if I leave out Contador who is absolutely dominating here, I was on the same level as the other riders. It was a good confidence boost. I only lost several seconds on the best climbers on a 7km climb and I proved to be a match for them.”Roman is convinced that he has regained his composure that he lost after the stage on Zoncolan. “I´m entering the final part of the race with the objective to improve my position in the GC. The time gaps are not that big and I have a great advantage over the Spaniards from Euskatel in the last time trial. Now I know that if I had lost one minute less on Zoncolan I would be sitting around top five in the GC but there is nothing I can do. I believe that I will show something soon.”Stage 16 (Belluno-Nevegal, a 12.7km time trial): 1st Contador (Spa/Saxo Bank) 28:55, 2nd Nibali (Ita/Liquigas) +34, 3rd Scarponi (Ita/Lampre) +38, 4th Rujano (Ven/Androni) +39, 5th Garzelli (Ita/Acqua e Sapone) +46, 6th Roman Kreuziger (Cze/Astana) +49, 7th Menchov (Rus/Geox) +52, 8th Pinotti (Ita/HTC-Highroad) +58.Overall Standings: 1st Contador 62:43:37, 2nd Scarponi +4:58, 3rd Nibali +5:45, 4th Gadret (Fra/AG2R) +7:35, 5th Rujano +9:18, 6th Nieve (Spa/Euskaltel) +9:22, 7th Menchov +9:38, 8th Roman Kreuziger +9:47, 9th Rodriguez (Spa/Katusha) +10:25, 10th Anton (Spa/Euskaltel) +10:58.