Mikel Landa believes Ben O'Connor's lead is not bullet-proof: "It's going to be a difficult to take time off him, but it's not impossible"

Mikel Landa arrived at the finish line completely smashed. The Soudal - Quick-Step leader commented after the finish that Ben O'Connor had gone very strong and that his team couldn't do anything else even though they didn't have anyone pull at the front of the bunch at any point of the stage.

However, thinking about what may happen between now and the end of the Vuelta, he is very clear that it is not lost and that the Australian has not won it despite his display today:

"The truth is that he has been very strong. We couldn't do more. Well, that's how it was, there's still a lot of Vuelta to go, now it's time to get back to him. Why not, he's been close to the podium other times, it's going to be a difficult rider to take time off him, but it's not impossible."

After this victory, Ben O'Connor takes the lead in the Vuelta a Espana classification with overwhelming lead of nearly five minutes on Primoz Roglic and Joao Almeida and more than five minutes on Enric Mas. Mikel Landa drops out of the top 10 and is now 12th, 5:49 behind the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale rider.