"I'm a bit sorry for my teammates that I couldn't finish it off today" - Jonas Vingegaard

Jonas Vingegaard has gone through the Alto de l'Angliru with his lead at the Vuelta a Espana almost intact but he will not be happy with the outcome of the stage. The Dane looked set to win the queen stage of the Vuelta, but failed to attack or go through João Almeida on the final ascent where the biggest differences of the race so far have been created.

"To be honest yes, I would've loved to win today. We did everything we could so that I had the chance to win," the red jersey said in a post-race interview. "But to be honest I think João deserved the win today, he was super strong. I did what I could and as I said he deserves the win but of course I'm a bit disappointed I couldn't win yeah".

Visma chased all day long, through the flat kilometers and remained in the wheels of UAE Team Emirates - XRG as they pushed in the Alto del Cordal and Angliru. Vingegaard had the wheel of his rivals throughout the entire stage, and although that wouldn't make much of a difference in the brutal gradients of the Angliru, his lack of an attack came as a surprise.

"I knew already on the second last climb that he wanted to go for the victory, because he put his team on the front and yeah they were doing super well". Almeida took the front of the race with 6 kilometers to go and did not let go of it during a single moment.

Vingegaard seemed to be managing his efforts for an attack at the top of the climb, but that attack never came. And in the technical downhill finish, the Dane equally did not have the legs to go through Almeida, a very odd outcome to the stage, and one that would have come as a massive disappointment to the Dane.

"Also my team did super well today pulling the all day, I'm a bit sorry for my teammates that I couldn't finish it off today, i wanted to win for them and my family too". This also sees his lead, albeit only slightly, decrease to the Portuguese, with 46 seconds now separating the two.

"Now I have to focus more on João more than the other guys. To be honest in the end that's something I can be happy about of course but as I said I would've loved to win today for my teammates and my family. Of course it's the Angliru, it's a very special climb and I would've loved to win here today," he concluded.