Carlos Rodríguez has taken advantage of the difficulties from his teammates at INEOS Grenadiers and current strong form to get himself into a leadership position at the Vuelta a Espana, and at the race's only individual time-trial he put on a strong performance that has kept him well within range of the podium.
“I had a good feeling. I took it quite conservatively, but it worked out well. As a result, I did not end up in the red zone. It was a good time trial and I'm happy with the form," Rodríguez told reporters in a post-race interview. "I'm quite proud of this. To finish half a minute behind Primož Roglič… That's just a very good result. That is something to be proud of.”
Whilst the Spaniard has shown decent time-trial performances in the past, this Vuelta ride was perhaps the best of his pro career. He finished the day in fourth place, taking time on rivals such as Enric Mas, Juan Ayuso and João Almeida - alongside Simon Yates, who has in the meantime abandoned the race. He's equally maintained and secured his fourth position, now only 52 seconds behind Enric Mas who rounds out the current podium.
“I can only do my best, I have to focus on that. And it is also important to simply enjoy this experience," he said. Into stage 11 now Rodríguez departs as the team's sole leader as Pavel Sivakov abandoned the race, however with Tao Geoghegan Hart as a GC outsider and Richard Carapaz as a stage hunter and possible support in the mountains. The 21-year old is showing remarkable consistency so far, however will have the difficult task of keeping the same level throughut the rest of the Vuelta, his first ever Grand Tour.
Muy contento con el rendimiento de hoy, no esperaba ser 4to en la contrarreloj. Ha sido genial tener tanta gente en la carretera animando, gracias 😉 Very happy with the performance today, wasn’t expecting to be 4th in the TT. Thank you to all the people cheering, it was great😉
