Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) had hoped to finally win a grand tour in this year's Vuelta a Espana but after having launched several fruitless attacks on the queen stage, he admits defeat. Instead, he now hopes to finish on a grand tour podium for the fourth time in a row and possibly win a stage.

With 11 uphill finishes and limited time trialling kilometres, this year's Vuelta a Espana route seemed to offer Joaquim Rodriguez his best-ever chance of finally winning a grand tour. At the end of the two toughest days in the Pyrenees, the Spaniard is, however, only sitting in 4th overall, a massive 2.57 behind race leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana).

Yesterday Rodriguez showed some signs of life when he launched the first attacks in the race but Nibali and Chris Horner (Radioshack) were always able to match his accelerations, even momentarily riding away from their rivals. Acknowledging the superiority of his rivals, Rodriguez has now changed his objectives and focuses on the 3rd place that is currently occupied by his former captain Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and a possible stage win.

"I had my moment of glory todayy but I can't do it. I'm trying but I'm missing something, I'm missing something. Me falta, me falta," Rodriguez told Cyclingnews. He describes Nibali as "very strong, doing really well. He and Horner are the strongest, then me and Alejandro [Valverde] are on another level, just behind."

After the stage, Valverde had claimed that Nibali had seemed to be more human than in previous days but Rodriguez completely refuted that suggestion. "He says that? Well I didn't see that," he responded. "He's doing really well."

Rodriguez will get his first chance to take back some of the 1.15 he currently trails Valverde, on today's final stage in the Pyrenees. Starting at 15.00 CEST you can follow the stage on CyclingQuotes.com/live.