Alberto Contador got safely through an easy an potentially nervous stage of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco and defended his 14-second lead over Alejandro Valverde. He expects the Movistar rider to attack him in tomorrow's traditional queen stage to the Alto de Arrate.

The 194.5 kilometer long stage of Vuelta Pais Vasco from Urdazubi to Vitiria-Gasteiz was another undulating stretch of the stage race where every stage contains several launching pads for hungry riders but Tinkoff-Saxo, once again today’s stage was all about control and defend.
 
Four climbs were on the menu and the final slope was a category-3 climb and with its top only 9 kilometers  from the line, a wild descent was expected. But last year’s winner of Tour de l’Avenir, Ruben Fernandez (CJR) put in a great effort to stay away from the bunch, which was lead on by first Tinkoff-Saxo and eventually, Orica GreenEdge with Michael Matthews on the team and Sky with sprinter, Ben Swift.
 
With 33 kilometers to go, Fernandez was inhaled by the sprinter teams and the pace was kept high to avoid counter-attacks while Tinkoff-Saxo’s Alberto Contador and Roman Kreuziger were resting comfortably in the pack behind teammate, Michael Mørkøv. However, thundering towards the foot of the final climb Tinkoff-Saxo moved up to the front of the peloton behind the broad shoulders of Rory Sutherland while the pack was stretched out.
 
The stage was decided in the expected bunch sprint and former U23 World Champion, Michael Matthews paid back the confidence with a magnificent stage win. Tinkoff-Saxo’s Alberto Contador maintained the overall lead of the race by finishing 16th while teammate, Roman Kreuziger finished 19th.

"I stayed ahead only to avoid surprises and not lose time," Contador told Bicicilismo. I'm not that crazy. Kwiatkowski was there for the sprint. Yes it is true that the time loss may only be two or three seconds, but you never know if it will be important at the end of the race. And we must always be aware."

Contador is now looking ahead to tomorrow's queen stage that he has won twice in the past.

"It is a very important stage, a stage that I really like and we will see how we are. For sure, Valverde will test me to see how I am.

"Everybody would love to win in Arrate. For now, let's think about the GC and right now and stage is secondary. But it is true that another stage win would be great."

"This was an obvious opportunity for the sprinters in the peloton and it was only natural that they took control of the pace while we embraced the chance to rest as much as possible," sports director Philippe Mauduit said. "However, we looked after Alberto and made sure he was brought safely across the finish line before tomorrow's long and quite more demanding stage with several bumps along the way. But we're confident and we trust the boys are in control."