All day Katusha worked hard for Joaquim Rodriguez in today's stage of the Vuelta a Espana but the Spaniard had to settle for third. He openly admitted that he was unable to respond to Fabio Aru's strong attack in the finale.

The third summit finish in the 2014 Vuelta a España brought plenty of excitement and drama as the peloton of 194 starters faced the longest and hardest climb so far. Team Katusha’s rider Joaquim Rodriguez kept his teammates close and remained focused on gaining time for the general classification. His third place finish and four-second time bonus did just that.

"The final was long, hard and very fast. Maybe we expected it to be a bit harder, but I’m happy in the end. I stay in the running and took a time bonus. Especially good is that my good sensations are still there. When Aru attacked I tried to stay with him, but honestly he’s a very explosive rider. His attack was a bit too fast for me," said Joaquim Rodriguez.

The climb to Santuario de San Miguel de Aralar (Navarre) was used for the first time in professional cycling on a less than perfect narrow road to the top. Reeling back lone breakaway rider Vasil Kiryienka near the start of the climb with 9,9 km to go, Katusha riders worked for Rodriguez in the group of GC contenders. Attacks came from Robert Gesink (Belkin) and Dan Martin (Garmin Sharp) but it was the effort from Fabio Aru (Astana) near the 1 km to go banner that really sparked the group to come alive. Rodriguez was right in the middle of the chase, along with race leader Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Alejandro Valverde of Movistar. Aru held his ground to take a solo victory by six seconds to Valverde and “Purito” Rodriguez.

Contador still holds the overall race lead but with valuable seconds grabbed on the road and at the finish line, Alejandro Valverde narrowed the gap to 20-seconds. Rigoberto Uran (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step) holds third at 1.08. Joaquim Rodriguez moved into fifth for the classification and remains only 27-seconds from the podium as the race enters the second half of the Spanish tour.

Tomorrow is a day for the sprinters, one of the few remaining in this year’s Vuelta that still has five summit finishes to come. Thursday’s circuit is in Logroño at 166 km.