Alberto Contador talked about stage 11 of the Vuelta a España that ended in Padrón and
Enric Mas' chances of winning the race against a
Primoz Roglic whom the Spaniard managed to drop in the stage to Granada with the long and steep ascent.
The winner of the 3 Vueltas, now a Eurosport commentator, was clear that the favorites had to take advantage of the day as they did to take time off leader Ben O'Connor:
"I was very clear that the general classification was going to move, it was a very good opportunity with low risk because it was 3 kilometers uphill and then the finish line was close. I expected it, it shows that Primoz's downturn the other day was a one-off," 'El Pistolero' argues.
On the strategy that Movistar Team and Enric Mas should follow to win the Vuelta, he believes that they should go for Roglic to take time from him. That right now allying with him can come in handy in some stages to take the red from O'Connor, but that he must not miss opportunities if he wants to win the race:
"He's interested in Primoz Roglic. Yes, ok, but be careful, because you can go there, go with him and at a given moment you have to attack him. You have to make up almost a minute plus at least another minute to have more margin for the final time trial and every day is one less sheet in the road book. Alliance yes, but you don't have to look for second place, you have to look for the victory in the Vuelta".
At the time being the duo sit second and third in the overall classification, still behind Ben O'Connor but the Australian has been consistently shedding time and is not currently in the position of main favourite to win the race. Mas is sitting 42 seconds behind the Slovenian but the truth is most of the race's most difficult stages are yet to come. Soon, summit finishes at Puerto de Ancares, Cuitu Negru and Lagos de Covadonga where there will be nowhere to hide.