Rubén Fernandez (Movistar Team) has taken over the GC lead in his first Vuelta a España after finishing second on today’s stage at the mountain-top finish at Mirador de Ézaro behind Alexandre Geniez (FDJ). His team-mate Alejandro Valverde finished in 3rd, and now sits in second overall and Nairo Quintana has moved to 5th.
The Movistar riders set a fierce pace on the final 1.8km climb from the village of Dumbría to chase down a lead group with all but Geniez being hauled back. The pace that they set at the front of the ever-diminishing peloton put many other big names in trouble including Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) and Chris Froome (Team Sky).
Froome did fight back to rejoin the four chasers which also included Esteban Chaces (Orica-BikeExchange). Coming towards the finish, Fernandez jumped clear to gain enough time to take the red jersey.
Rubén Fernández: “I couldn’t expect this at all. I knew I was coming in good form to this Vuelta, as I had finished sixth overall in both Pologne and Burgos. Plus, my goal here was working for Nairo and Alejandro. However, I was told in the finale to ride by myself… and here we are, wearing red and the leader’s jersey in my second Grand Tour.”
“It hadn’t really come through my mind to attack: I was just setting the pace in case Nairo could attack, I was trying to make things harder for the rest. At the end, they told e to ride on my own, and I could open that gap. I celebrated out of pure joy, because of the GC lead; by the earpiece I was told I would sit 1st overall after the stage… I couldn’t be happier.”
“My goal remains the same: we can’t forget for a second about helping out our team leaders, which is the main objective, yet I’ll surely defend this jersey with all I’ve got.”
