Too bad for my time loss but Alberto was great

The Tinkoff-Saxo team made an important move right in the first stage of the Basque Tour when the leader Alberto Contador took the victory with a gap of 14 seconds ahead of Valverde. Roman finished in 9th position in the mountainous stage, having lost 54 seconds.

“I knew that after those two weeks without racing it would be a bit difficult for me. We rode with the Movistar team at the front almost all day long. We suspected that Alberto and Valverde could be the strongest riders today and, in the end, it proved to be the case. As for myself, I was riding as a back-up if anything should have gone wrong and at the end of the day, it is too bad that I missed the group ahead of me. I didn’t feel particularly great on the final climb but the most important thing is Alberto´s triumph,” said Roman.

Asked about the team tactics, Roman confirmed that Contador´s attack had been planned ahead. “He said that he was feeling really good. We are really happy that he grabbed the win but, for us, it means putting in a hard work in the next stages. The race has only started and it won´t be easy to control the race every day in these hard stages,” added Roman