Before the sprint teams to centre stage, Matthias Krizek got his time in the spotlight on a largely uneventlful stage of the Vuelta a Espana. The Austrian rode most of the day in a solo break but admitted that he had never expected to be completely alone.

Matthias Krizek was the star of the day in today's stage of the Vuelta a Espana. While most of the peloton enjoyed what looked like a rest day, the Austrian spent most of the day in a breakaway.

Unsurprisingly, he was brought back but earned his just reward when he was selected as the most aggressive rider of the stage.

“Before the start, I was determined to make a breakaway but clearly not alone," he said. "I went up the road and I expected someone to come with me but nobody did. At some stage, I almost stopped for a piss and I was still hoping for a group of riders to come across but nothing like that happened. So I went on again and I took my rhythm. I didn’t ride too hard because there are difficult stages to come.

"I had no illusion. Alone against the peloton, there was nothing to do. But I didn’t get bored all this time by myself. It was even nice. Laps after laps, the fans had learned my name and they’ve been great encouraging me everywhere.”