Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) continued his domination of the Vuelta a Andalucia when he took another convincing win on the hilly first stage of the race. We have already posted several reactions and have gathered a few more below.

Tanel Kangert (Astana, 10th +0.17)

“I blew up my engine – on the final climb I started in a good position, and I could see that everybody else was suffering – but it was steep for me today, and I didn’t do as well as I expected.”

Luis Leon Sanchez (Caja Rural, 5th +0.04)

"The symptoms from my virus are gradually improving. Each day I feel better and today we have saved the day quite well. We planned to take it day by day and we will continue to do so. The team was always active in the race. As usual, Javi [Aramendia] was in a good break and my other teammates have worked well to position me well at the beginning of the final climb."

Javier Aramendia (Caja Rural, part of the early breakaway, 85th +6.22)

"I tried again. The stage was very hard with more than 400 metres of climbing. We worked well together in the breakaway but we did not have many chances. The day was rewarded with a trip to the podium as the leader of the sprints competition. Luisle is exceptional in his field and is now 3rd overall. He will fight to maintain it or maybe even improve."

Eugenio Goikoetxea (sports director Caja Rural whose best rider was Luis Leon Sanchez in 5th)

"We worked well throughout the stage. Aramendia is a safe bet to get into breaks and then the team worked well to tackle the final climb. Luis Leon Sanchez has finished the stage well."

Piotr Wadecki (sports director CCC whose best rider was Davide Rebellin in 3rd)

"In this stage out plan was to have at least one rider in the breakaway. The remaining riders were supposed to make sure that Davide Rebellin arrived at the bottom of the final climb in the best possible position. I am very happy with the attitude of the whole team because they fulfilled all my tactical wishes. Special congratulations and praise go to Lukasz [Owsian who was the final escapee to get caught] who was in the break and fought until the last kilometres before the final climb."

Javier Megias (Novo Nordisk, 31st +0.55)

“Today felt like the queen stage of the race. I tried to ride with the elite front group on the final climb but my legs started to cramp. Tomorrow I’m aiming to be in the front group and I’m hoping for an even better finish.”

Jesus Ezquerra (ActiveJet, part of the early breakaway, 111th +14.46)

"I managed to join the break but I was not at my best today. Normally I could go harder. However, it was difficult and a good workout and it showed what our goal is."

Piotr Kosmala (sports director ActiveJet whose best rider was Mario Gonzalez in 63rd)

"Today's stage was one of the toughest in the history for our riders. I think a few of them had the opportunity to do a stage with more than 3600m of climbing for the first time. We have said that we want to be active and be in breaks and we succeeded. I hope that the guys will continue to ride well in the next stages."