Vuelta a Espana: No time loss for Alberto Contador on stage 2

Having conceded 52 seconds to overall Vuelta a Espana rivals Chris Froome (Team Sky) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) in the stage 1 team time trial, stage 2 was a more straight forward affair for Alberto Contador who finished stage 2 on the same time ahead of the first test for the general classification test.

"This type of finish is always complicated. The pace is very fast, there isn't much space and everybody wants to be at the front. As a result, crashes take place but on the other hand, tactically, you have to position yourself in the front because otherwise, you can lose some very valuable seconds," Contador said of the stage won by Gianni Meersman (Etixx-QuickStep) that featured two crashes in the finale.

By stage 2 of the Tour de France in July, Contador was battered and bruised before he eventually abandoned. While he has lost time to the likes of Froome, Quintana and Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge), there are ten summit finishes to come and Contador hasn't had the misfortune of crashing ahead of the first GC test of the race to the Mirador de Ezaro.

"As I said, I will take the race day-by-day and stay calm," said Contador who sits 40th on GC. "We saw yesterday that there are stronger teams than ours. They built a big advantage and it will be difficult to overcome it. Tomorrow, we will see how we do and after the stage we will make an assessment."

Contador, a three time winner of the race, was second to Joaquim Rodriguez back in 2012 when the Vuelta first paid a visit to the Mirador de Ezaro but is unsure how he will figure on Monday.

"I felt well today but it is true it was a very straightforward stage which makes it difficult to draw any conclusions. Tomorrow's stage might come early in the race for the riders but not for the fans and spectators and at the end of the day this is all about them," he added.

Vuelta a Espana stage 2 Video Highlights