MTN-Qhubeka may not have achieved a top result in today's stage of the Vuelta a Espana but the team proved that they may be one to watch in the upcoming mountain stages. With 5 riders in the top 50, the team has lots of cards to plays in the coming days.

The 13th stage of La Vuelta a Espana turned out to be a really good one for Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung. Jay Thomson made sure the African team were represented in the strong 11 rider breakaway and then when it ll came back together just before the finish, they managed to place 5 riders in the top 50 positions.

Daniel Navarro (Cofidis) would win the stage after jumping clear of a select group in the tight, technical and tough final kilometers. Daniel Moreno (Katusha) was 2nd and Wilco Kelderman (Belkin) crossed the line 3rd. Our Sergio Pardilla jumped up one spot in the General Classification after finishing with the select group of favourites, in 19th position.

With the big mountains of the La Vuelta a Espana looming, it was encouraging to see Daniel Teklehaimanot, Jacques Janse van Rensburg, Louis Meintjes and Merhawi Kudus all in the mix on such a tough explosive stage today. This impressive ride by the team would see MTN-Qhubeka finish as the 5th best team on the day, a great performance by a wild card team.

"The stage really fast and we had Jay in the break which was really good for us," Meintjes said. "The speed was on all day though as some teams didn’t want the break to get away. In the end we placed 5 guys in the top 50 and Sergio was right at the front so it wasn’t a bad day for us at all."

"Today we can't complain," Director Sportif Manel Lacambra said. "Jay was in the break the whole day. In the final Sergio was good, actually he was really, really good because the finish was not typically suited to him. He made up 1 place on the GC too, so yeah, a good day."