Despite conceding 1’25” to Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Leopard) on Wednesday’s individual time trial in the Vuelta a España, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) did enough to ride himself back into the red leader’s jersey and establish his credentials as race favourite prior to the undulating challenges awaiting the riders on the Pyrenean stages during the coming weekend.

After the race against the clock today, Nibali expressed his satisfaction with his own performance, acknowledging that he cannot ride the same gears as time trial specialists like Cancellara and reigning world time trial champion Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), who finished as runner-up to Cancellara.

“It was a very hard one with a lot of wind. It was difficult to maintain a rhythm but I’ve done an excellent race. I’m happy. I couldn’t do any better. I can’t ride a gear of 58 or 56 like Tony Martin and Fabian Cancellara. I’ve done my best with my 55x11.”

Nibali also spoke about the incident yesterday involving a wasp.

“I got pricked by a wasp. It’s been a difficult time for me but my condition has improved. I haven’t thought of pulling out of the Vuelta because I thought I could do well. This morning the volume of my eye had decreased but it was still painful. It went better and better. Normally I don’t have allergies. I got an authorization from the UCI to use some medicine for this evident case of a swollen eye but I’m not sure if the MPCC (movement for a credible cycling) agrees with that. However, I’m not sure if my swollen eye affected my performance.”

In terms of the general classification, Nibali didn’t feel today’s time trial would change too much and was optimistic about his possibilities of defending his leader’s jersey.

“Yes, I’ll see day after day how I am. There are important climbs coming up. My main rivals are the same after the time trial: Rodriguez, Valverde, and also Horner, but mostly Rodriguez and Valverde even if Rodriguez is the one who has paid the heaviest price today while Valverde had a great ride despite a mechanical.”

Nibali leads Nicolas Roche (Saxo-Tinkoff) by 33 seconds on general classification, while Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) is 13 seconds further adrift.