"It was insanely hot and a really brutal day" - Mattias Skjelmose drops out of GC top 10 at the end of the first week of Vuelta a Espana

Mattias Skjelmose was one of the GC riders who lost some time on Sunday's tough 9th stage of the Vuelta a Espana. The Dane did not feel well in the Spanish heat and thus focused on reducing the losses. The Lidl-Trek rider did relatively well at that, finishing in a small group with defending champion Sepp Kuss.

"It hurt my legs. I think it was insanely hot and a really brutal day," says Skjelmose to the Danish TV 2 Sport.

Lidl-Trek leader could already sense early on that he would not have a good day on the bike. He is therefore not surprised by the loss of time. "I felt really bad until the first climb, when they opened up. Then I think there were others who also had a hard time. But on the next climb I knew I would be dropped at the start."

Therefore, it was about limiting the time loss for Skjelmose, who finished in 14th place, 5:35 after Adam Yates and a bit under two minutes behind the group of favourites. "I just rode controlled to the top without exploding," he says. Tomorrow is the first rest day of the race, before it gets going with more mountains on Tuesday.