I accept the sixth place, too bad I’ve missed top five by several seconds

How much do you value your sixth place overall? It carries more weight than the ninth place at the Tour because the competition was tougher here as compared to the previous year. All Astana´s managers arrived here and they are all happy. We won the team classification, took a stage victory, I defended the white jersey and finished sixth overall and that is nothing to be ashamed of.Were you confident about beating Rodriguez in the final time trial?I was more worried about Menchov but he didn’t get ahead of me. I had advantage of 30 seconds over Rodriguez 10km into the time trial. I thought it could work out but it didn’t, there is nothing I can do. He pulled off an outstanding ride but I´m content with my performance. I´ve considerably improved my time trial skills and my team, people from the Specialized and my coach helped me a lot, so I have them to thank for their support.How are you feeling?For the last three days I´ve been struggling with a cold but it didn’t have any impact on my performance at all. Did anything go wrong at the Giro?I suffered a lot in the stage on Zoncolan. I knew it wouldn’t suit me and I lost a lot of time up there. On the other hand, I proved to myself that my performance keeps getting better and I may become one of the top riders in the course of three years.What is your next race schedule?If I bounce back quickly I will ride the criterium in Brescia and then I will visit the Czech Republic for a few days and if I´m fit and healthy I will start building up to the Tour at a high altitude camp.Are you going to include the Tour in your racing agenda after all?If I am in good condition I would like to go for it. The team has left the decision to me.Stage 21 (time trial, Milano, 26 km): 1st Millar (GBr/Garmin) 30:13, 2nd Rasmussen (Den/HTC) +7, 3rd Contador (Spa/Saxo Bank) +36, 4th Porte (Aus/Saxo Bank), 5th Popovych (Ukr/RadioShack) +55, 6th Van Emden (Ned/Rabobank) +1:02, … 11th Nibali (Ita/Liquigas) +1:18, 16th Roman Kreuziger +1:26, 17th Scarponi (Ita/Lampre) +1:28, 35th Menchov (Rus/Geox) +2:03, 40th Rodriguez (Spa/Katusha) +2:14, 46th Rujano (Ven/Androni) +2:25, 71st Gadret (Fra/AG2R) +2:51.Final General Classification: 1st Contador 84:05:14, 2nd Scarponi +6:10, 3rd Nibali +6:56, 4th Gadret +10:04, 5th Rodriguez +11:05, 6th Roman Kreuziger +11:28, 7th Rujano +12:12, 8th Menchov +12:18, 9th Kruijswijk (Ned/Rabobank) +13:51, 10th Sivcov (Blr/HTC) +14:10.Best young rider classification: 1st Roman Kreuziger 84:16:42, 2nd Kruijswijk +2:23, 3rd Stetina (USA) +38:41.