Joaquin Rodriguez clung to the Vuelta a Espana’s red jersey as overall leader ahead of Alberto Contador after finishing seventh in Wednesday’s time trial, won by Swedish rider Fredrik Kessiakoff.
Kessiakoff won the 39.4km 11th stage individual sprint by 17 seconds over Contador.
Christopher Froome finished 39 seconds behind the Astana cyclist’s winning time of 52 minutes, 36 seconds for third. The Tour de France runner-up is 15 seconds behind Rodriguez in third overall.
Photo: Reuters
Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank rider Contador moved ahead of Froome into second in the overall standings, but he could not overtake Rodriguez after the leader finished 1:16 behind Kessiakoff to retain a one-second lead over 2008 champion Contador.
“To have Alberto second is like having the devil in your ear,” Rodriguez said. “My legs felt like they were going to explode [today].”
Contador’s fresher state may help his push for a second Vuelta title after he arrived at the 67th edition of the classic with little racing because of a doping ban.
The Spanish cyclist gained time over his rivals on the climb to Monte Castrove after 23km and he was also fastest among his top rivals when negotiating the steep and curvy descent, with Froome showing nerves navigating the thin stretch of road on the descent from the peak.
“It’s good to have been stronger than Chris Froome in a discipline that favors him, so while I managed a good time against the other favorites, I wanted to win the stage,” said Contador, who is racing in his first major event since serving a ban that stripped him of his third Tour de France title in 2010. “The Vuelta really starts now.”
However, Rodriguez clung to the red shirt with a gutsy ride that suggests he had shaken off his runner-up disappointment at the Giro d’Italia, where the Katusha rider was undone by a poor time trial on the final day, which he started as leader ahead of eventual winner Ryder Hesjedal.
“I just have to take it day by day now,” Rodriguez said.
“I can’t have a bad day. It can get complicated here on in,” he said.
Alejandro Valverde was fourth, 1:08 back, to sit 58 seconds back of Rodriguez. Dutch cyclist Robert Gesink was the next closest challenger to Rodriguez at 2:28 off his overall time of 40.26:15.
The 12th stage was set to keep the Vuelta on the Galician coast, with a 190.5km trek from Vilagarcia to Dumbria, with the title challengers looking to maintain their place up to tomorrow’s mountainous 14th stage.
The 21-stage, three week race ends in Madrid on Sept. 9.
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