Alberto Contador conceded two seconds to Chris Froome on a dramatic day in the Vuelta a Espana that saw the Brit go down in an early crash. Contador refutes initial reports that his Tinkoff-Saxo team tried to exploit the situation to distance his main rival.

In the Tour of Spain there is no quiet day. Today Chris Froome crash, fortunately without consequences, and in the finale he gained two seconds on Contador and Valverde sue an unexpected split in the sprint. Contador recognized that, in fact, all stages are important.

“Just ask Froome, who crashed today,” he said. “The roads are very slippery and it means that you had to be very careful. Over 40 kilometres went by before the break got away and when some riders go fast, we also have to go fast."

In the final sprint, Contador lost contact with Froome and it cost him 2 unexpected seconds.

“I decided to take the wheel of Alejandro because I thought Valverde was going to close the gap. Froome accelerated, but I saw that Alejandro didn’t go. That surprised me and I don’t know if we lost any time to him at the end," said the leader of Tinkoff-Saxo that, in any case, was happy after finishing the stage.

“I have saved the day, there is a little less heat and now we need to rest."

Froome's crash happened in a maneuver that also involved Contador.

“I was attacking because Nairo Quintana was in a break and in the corner where he crashed I was slightly ahead," he said. "I touched the brakes because I saw that I was going too fast and narrowly escaped a crash.  And in the same curve, someone crashed in the peloton and I think Froome was just behind."

Then the peloton showed its best side and nobody worked to distance the Sky leader.

“Froome lost a minute because he had a mechanical problem," Contador said. “But nobody tried to distance him. We were expecting everything to regroup and for it to be a quiet day. 

“It’s s going better than I anticipated, much better, but I'm still cautious. I know that only one week of race has the passed, but maybe it was the hardest week for me.”

"The stage was actually harder than the profile suggested it would be in terms of climbing," sports director Steven De Jongh said. "It was relentlessly up and down and even though it was slightly cooler than the previous few days, it was still hot for out there. But the boys did a fantastic job for Alberto during the stage without having to do the hard work in front of the peloton and we're ready for a similar stage and similar tactics tomorrow before Sunday's mountaintop finish."