Sergio Henao (Sky) retained the race lead at the Vuelta al País Vasco today, finishing second on the day at the second consecutive summit finish of the race.

The Colombian happily benefitted from a valiant endeavour by his team-mates who willingly defended the yellow jersey despite a depleted squad of just six in yet another of a seemingly endless series of impressive Sky performances in stage races.

After dismissing the mid-stage challenge of Peter Velits (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) in the break the day came down to the famous final Arrate climb.

Henao and Richie Porte combined to keep the pace high in the final kilometres, both riders doing enough to cement their overall positions of first and third respectively.

After the stage Sports Director Nicolas Portal was full of praise for the team as he talked us through a difficult day.

“It wasn’t easy,” he explained on the team website. “It was cold and raining the whole day. The start was incredibly fast and we lost Xabi because he had a puncture after four kilometres. So it was Joe, Jonathan and Kiri all working to bring back to the move. At one point Xabi was almost three minutes behind but we couldn’t wait for him. Luckily it all settled down and he could come back and we took control.”

Just one stage remains now ahead of Saturday’s time trial but as Portal points out, it is likely to be the toughest test of the race.

“Tomorrow is probably the hardest stage of the week. It is not a summit finish but it is very hard. There’s barely any flat terrain. The final circuit we do the same steep climb three times. We’ll look to do the same thing today. Stay calm and be ready for the fight.”