In a race of three weeks, the key is to be consistent. The regret today is that I couldn't win the stage. I started the sprint, but Mancebo came very strong from behind me. I saw him coming, but there was nothing I could do.
Quotes about mancebo (5 Quotes)
When you are up front, they don't let you go. I had a bad day in Andorra yesterday and in Cerler they watched me, and besides, I didn't go well. I waited for Mancebo at a bad moment and that was good for me to catch the group.
Carlos felt really strong at the foot of the decisive climb, so we put Calvente and Piil up front to set the pace. With about six kilometers to go Carlos hit a bad patch and instead of risking a total meltdown, he made the sensible choice to ride at his own pace and he did actually manage to limit his time loss quite well. The other day Carlos was a bit better than Mancebo and today it was the other way round. The time differences are still very small. The way it looks right now Heras and Menchov are the strongest. But there's almost two full weeks left and a lot can happen in that time.
If he doesn't yield, it's possible that we'll have a repeat of yesterday in Cerler, although Sastre said that he misunderstands both Mancebo and me. But if Menchov bends, the race will be much more aggressive and everyone will go hard without holding back.
In a three week race, at the end there is always a high level, and more since we are in the UCI-ProTour. Maybe it's not the same level of the Tour, where all teams bring his nine riders at 100 percent level, but the average is very high. Maybe there are no so many names as other years, but the level continues being high. Here we have Mancebo, Aitor Gonzalez, Landis, Mayo, Pereiro and, in general, teams like Comunidad Valenciana, without forgetting that there are always foreigners whom you don't count on and then they ride very well.