Rui Costa entered the Tour de Romandie with lots of doubt after he had crashed out of Liege-Bastogne-Liege with a shoulder injury. Today he proved that he is in excellent condition by taking third in the queen stage and he is now in podium contention for the third year in a row.

In 2012 and 2013, Rui Costa won the Tour de Suisse and finished 3rd in the Tour de Romandie to make him one of the most consistent performers in Switzerland. This year he may make it three in a row in the latter race as he again finds himself in 3rd after today's queen stage of the race.

Costa had targeted the Ardennes classics but a lot of bad luck prevented him from showing off his great condition. Today he finally managed to show his fine form when he took third in the race's hard queen stage.

Maybe it could have been even better for the world champion had he not been troubled by shoulder pain from his crash at Liege-Bastogne-Liege. However, he was pleased with his performance in a difficult stage that took place under a cloud of uncertainty due to his injury.

"I'm definitely pleased with how things went today," he said. "The shoulder problem limits me in natural movements on my bike and the condition is not 100%. It gives me a lot of morale for the next stages.

"Today, the race was really tough and made even harder by the rain, I have defended myself well and  in the end I still had strength to be beat my opponents in the sprint. 

"I have to congratulate the front duo, Spilak and Froome. Today they proved that they had better legs than us. I am in a difficult time, however, and so I enjoy the virtual third place on the podium in the overall standings."

"The Queen stage of the race went really well for us," sports director Joxean Fernandez Matxin said. "Favilli followed the request to enter the first actions of the day and allowed the team to stay calm until the final climb on today's difficult course.  Rui showed grit and character on the Villars climb and I must say that the sprint for 3rd place showed that he is in good condition. 

"Tomorrow we expect a difficult stage, with the circuit of Freiburg having a cobbled climb where we have to stay alert to possible attacks from Rui's GC rivals."