A few days ago Daniel Navarro publicly criticized his friend Alberto Contador who had chased him down several times in stage 11. Today the Cofidis rider took a big victory in stage 13 and earned lots of praise from his former captain.

Today, Alberto Contador retained his red leader’s jersey, while he saw his former teammate, Dani Navarro, win the stage. Alberto Contador was happy to see him win and congratulated him behind the podium.
 
“Dani is a great rider. The other day he asked me why I made the move and caught him on the climb. Of course it was because I wanted to test my rivals in the GC but today it was the opposite situation”, he said, referring to the fact that he stayed in Valverde’s wheel on today’s stage, letting Navarro play his cards.

“I'm glad that he was able to win after such a strong and well-timed attack. A stage in the Vuelta is very important”.
 
Prior to the fast finish, the stage went well for Tinkoff-Saxo and captain Alberto Contador, as no riders in the break were a danger in the overall classification.
 
“For us it was perfect that the break went early on with several riders. I stayed in the front of the peloton in the final part of the stage to control things, to stay out of danger and to make sure that none of my rivals took any bonus seconds”, said Contador.

“It’s been a fast start and I’ve thought of the coming stages. Today like stage 9 to Valdelinares are days that have consequences on riders’ physique the day after. In the final ramp, I just kept my rivals under control."

 
Starting from tomorrow, the riders of Vuelta a España will face the steep climbs of Northern Spain for three days in a row - days that could very well decide the final outcome of this year’s Vuelta.
 
"I have to see how my legs are, but I can’t complain. Today I was able to control everything well in the end and the team worked really hard for me. Now I have to recover, tomorrow will be the first day out of many that will decide the Vuelta", concludes Alberto Contador.

"Tomorrow, the most difficult part of the Vuelta begins. I have the red jersey now but nothing is granted. I hope the race won’t be decided by time bonus because I’m not very good at that. If winning a stage is compatible with the overall victory, I’d like to but the GC remains my priority.”

"After a fast start of the stage, things cooled down for while when the break was established," sports director Steven De Jongh said. "But it surely became fast and furious towards the end of the day. Our main focus was to bring Alberto safely through the day without accidents and time gaps to his rivals and I think the boys rode very well again today.

"Tomorrow's going to be hard for the peloton and we'll probably see much bigger time gaps in the field. We'll be protecting Alberto and hopefully the overall lead"