Vuelta a Burgos: Quintana wins in Lagunas de Neila

It was a repeat performance for Nairo Quintana (Movistar), who soloed to victory Lagunas de Neila, on the Queen stage of the Vuelta a Burgos. Daniel Moreno (Katusha) caught a lagging Mikel Landa (Astana) to take second with Landa following him over for third. Quintana is the new leader of the general classification, he leads Moreno by a second.

“It was great to win here again. All the people of Burgos always treat me well and give me support when I come here. I like this area a lot and I'm proud to achieve another victory in this climb,” Quintana said after the finish. “The team was fantastic and has led me really well into the final climb… When we saw the last kilometer, I could see that Dani was still clinging to my wheel, so I had to give everything so that could drop him. Fortunately I succeeded.”

As they had done in the previous stages, Movistar took control of the peloton, setting a pace so high that few were able to keep up over the final climbs. Igor Antón did much of the damage and there were only 22 riders remaining as they hit the final climb. The day’s break had long been over and done with, after they were caught with 30 kilometres remaining.

Former Movistar rider Sergio Pardilla (MTN-Qhubeka) made the first significant move. The Spaniard went off the front, taking Mikel Landa (Astana) and Daniel Moreno (Katusha) with him. The trio didn’t get very far before they were caught and Pardilla immediately had another go.

Quintana looked comfortable, but he was isolated. After using all his teammates earlier in the stage, he found himself alone while Astana had three. It looked like Astana had got one over on Movistar, as Landa branched out on his own. However, with less than a kilometre to go, Landa cracked and began zigzagging across the road. Behind him, Quintana and Moreno were doing battle. The Colombian eventually broke free, passing the struggling Landa to seal victory.

With two stages, including a team time trial remaining, Quintana is aware that his lead over Moreno is fragile. “I am a leader by a second, demonstrating that there is not much between us. I felt good, although I'm sure others feel better. Now we just have to give everything in the time trial; I think nothing would happen tomorrow, but we'll see what happens at the end.”

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