Nairo Quintana (Movistar) may have gone on to win the 3rd stage of the Vuelta a Burgos but it was Sergio Pardilla from Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung who won the hearts of all those watching with his attacking style of riding. Daniel Moreno (Katusha) was 2nd and Mikel Landa (Astana) 3rd on the stage.

The tough 3rd stage that included 7 categorised climbs saw an early escape of 6 riders form but it was always going to be a tall order to stay away on such a tough stage. Movistar controlled the peloton for their Giro d’ Italia champ, Quintana, throughout the stage and the pure nature of the course made sure the weaker riders were eliminated. With 35km’s to go, the break was caught and only 30 riders remained in the front group.

Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung had placed both Pardilla and Jacques Janse van Rensburg in this select group with still 3 categorised climbs remaining. Movistar really began to wind up the pace but Pardilla and Janse van Rensburg were both well positioned and hit the final 8km HC climb with the leaders. With 5km’s to go Pardilla would put in his first attack, after getting a slight gap, a few attacks from behind caused the MTN-Qhubeka climber to be caught. Pardilla then went a 2nd time, this time the Spaniard got a nice 17″ lead over the favourites and was leading the race alone.

Landa and Davide Arroyo (Caja Rural) would later bridge the gap to Pardilla and the trio pushed on, working well together until 1.5km to go. Landa then attacked and Arroyo tried to follow but Landa was clear. The final kilometer was extremely steep though and this suited Quintana who was coming from behind. The Colombian danced his way passed all in front of him, catching Landa only 150m from the line.

“Today’s stage was hard as it was fast all day. The team did a great job to protect me all day just as they have the first 2 stages. Personally I felt good but just didn’t have enough to win but that is okay. I came here to get some good efforts in at altitude with the Vuelta always in mind. I had the chance to attack and test how my legs were feeling so I took that chance. I ended up paying for that effort so in the end, whether I was 5th, 10th or 15th it’s the same. I am happy, the Vuelta is long and I am at the right place now where Burgos will give me the finishing touches,” Sergio Pardilla said to the MTN website.

Also DS Manel Lacambra was happy with the way he saw his team helping their team leader Pardilla.

“The team was again protecting Sergio the whole stage, keeping him safe and helping to save energy. Jacques was right up there with Sergio after a big selection had been made with 5km to go. Sergio attacked and attacked again, eventually finishing in the top 10. It was our goal to test our legs on the climb and I was very happy with what I saw,” DS Manel Lacambra said.