Rui Costa takes Vuelta stage win in Lekunberri: "I prepared for the Tour and it didn't work out, so I asked the team to go to the Vuelta"

Rui Costa took an extraordinary victory on stage 15 of the Vuelta a España. The Intermarché-Circus-Wanty rider showed again his class in a brutal finish in Lekunberri provoking the breakaway with Santiago Buitrago and then being the smartest to overtake Lennard Kämna in the final volley;

"This team believed in me from the first moment, started the season in good condition and now a victory in the Vuelta a España is very important and also for the team, I'm very happy," he commented after the stage.

After a start in English with the Eurosport teammates, he started speaking in Spanish, a language that the great Portuguese rider is more comfortable with after his time with Movistar Team. "I prepared very well for the Tour and things didn't work out for me or the team, it was sad, I wasn't planning to do the Vuelta, but after San Sebastian my legs were good and I asked the team to do the Vuelta to try for a stage win. After so much struggle it seems easy, but there is a lot of effort behind it, something that people don't see, it's very satisfying for me";

Tactically, Kämna had escaped on the descent and fell in a corner. He was passed by Costa and Buitrago and both almost stopped after passing him. This is how he explained it. "In the first pass through the port I had seen that the curve was dangerous and I saw that it was going down very fast, I knew that if we entered at his speed we were going to fall, Buitrago and I were there, Kämna entered, we disputed the stage and I'm super happy;