A third place which tastes better than what the result implies. The Movistar Team got over a really difficult TTT in the streets of Burgos - 13km on stage two of the province's Vuelta - which the Chente García Acosta-led group already tackled under a feeling of setback as several of its riders crashed during the morning recon, fortunately with no serious consequences.

Having come well through the physically hardest part of the route for its riders, a section of long straights suited for powerful riders until 6km to go - they were 4th through the intermediate point, 16" behind already-dominating Astana - the telephone squad, down to five riders after the Alto del Castillo (Anacona, Fernández, Herrada, Visconti and a suffering Marc Soler), limited their loss in the second part, the most dangerous one, crossing the line in 3rd at 28".

The new general classification leaves Herrada - 5th, only 26" down following his third spot in Clunia yesterday -, Fernández (7th) and Anacona (8th) still alive in the top-ten of a race that will head into sprinters' land on Thursday in Villadiego, barring any crosswinds, before consecutive hilltop finishes on Friday and Saturday.