Carlos Rodríguez thrives on "crazy hard" summit finish at Vuelta as he takes up INEOS lead

INEOS Grenadiers entered the Vuelta a Espana with four possible GC contenders. After one week of racing, Carlos Rodríguez - the youngest, and the only debutant - has proved himself to likely be the most reliable option for the British team.

“Those four kilometers up to Les Praeres were crazy hard, but at least we had a lot of fans to support us which makes the climb that bit more enjoyable. I went from empty to feeling good to feeling empty again," Rodríguez said after the ninth stage. With Richard Carapaz and Pavel Sivakov shedding important time in the opening week, and Tao Geoghegan Hart crashing at the bottom of the final climb, Rodríguez has ridden clear of his teammates in the internal dispute for the team's leadership.

“It was a pretty tough finish, I think more than I expected. I started very strong early on the climb, and then the climb just felt like it was never going to end. We lost valuable time to Remco, but we were also very close to our other rivals," Rodríguez added. Although he now sits fourth in the overall classification it is a long stretch to call him a candidate for the Vuelta win, however he is very well within the fight, having ridden a very consistent and strong opening week.

“We had to adjust a bit today, and I didn’t go at the optimal pace because I was too busy at the beginning wanting to go with the best. That made me push more than was necessary," he said of the final ascent where he finished fourth out of the GC contender, "but I’m happy to have stayed with them and now we look towards the second week". Into the race's only individual time-trial Rodríguez sits 2:33 minutes away from Remco Evenepoel, but only 40 seconds away from third place Primoz Roglic.