Alejandro Valverde finished 18 seconds behind the Swiss Fabian Cancellara, rode in the same time as two of his main rivals for the final classification: the Italian Ivan Basso and the Kazakh Alexander Vinokourov.
“The course was really made for pure specialists and it as a fact that Fabian Cancellara, who is so powerful and also in a wonderful shape right now was absolutely unbeatable today.”, explained Valverde after he crossed the line. “He was the favorite number one and nobody was able to defeat him.”
“I am personally satisfied with my time. I started really fast and went on the same way till the last meter!”
“I finished this time trial more or less in the position I intended to and lost no time compared to my rivals. Now it will be really important to be careful in the next three stages which can be very dangerous ones because of the course with very narrow streets and a lot of roundabouts and also because the wind can make so that the bunch break in several parts. Nobody will win the Vuelta in Holland but somebody could lose plenty of time. “, concluded Valverde.
