Peter Sagan once again delivered a stunning performance spurred on by an avid effort from his teammates. Sagan finished 2nd behind Valverde after a finale peppered with steep sections. “The last climb, about 400 meters, was horrible for me”, says Sagan, who takes the lead in the points classification.

After catching his breath across the finish line in Vejer de la Frontera, Peter Sagan elaborates on the extended effort that the team and he put in on the 209km stage.

"It was a very hard day, in which I spent a lot of time at the front of the group. I approached Valverde to ask him whether Movistar could help us but they didn't seem very interested”, says Sagan and adds:

“The last climb was very hard, it was 300 meters up, then a little bit down and then again up. I think I can also be satisfied with he second place as it was extremely hard. I had spent a tremendous amount of energy at the front and in the final stretch I went behind the wheel of Valverde. The last climb, about 400 meters, was horrible for me. I honestly thought that was the end for me. However, when I saw all the climbers passing me, I said to myself I should make a last effort, squeeze out all my forces and push. I stayed behind Valverde but my legs weren't there, so I finished behind him.

"It was very hard. Normally, in a finale like this I don't even try. I thought it would be a 300 metres climb, then a flat, then another 300 metres but it was much steeper than that. It was very hard for me. In the last part, I was dead, but when I saw that all the climbers were struggling too, I said: OK, I go! I went really strong behind Alejandro. We will see how I recover tomorrow, maybe more is coming. I don't know."

“The stage was tough and if I knew beforehand the finish would be so hard, I wouldn't have tried. Still, I think second place in such a stage is good", underlines Sagan who now leads the points classification by 10 points.

Tinkoff-Saxo worked at the front throughout the stage while GC captain Rafal Majka finished off the team effort by digging deep to control the events in the finale. Tristan Hoffman, team sports director, admits that the team was aware that grabbing the stage win would be difficult but took responsibility.

"We worked very hard from the start and we put Peter in a good position at the bottom of the climb. We knew it would be extremely tough but he was our best option. We asked the other teams whether they wanted to cooperate but nobody was really interested in working. So, it was all up to us and the team did a fantastic job. Pavel Brutt pulled initially and in the last 50km, the entire squad was there, bringing Peter and Rafal in a perfect position”, explains Tristan Hoffman before concluding:

“The climb was tougher than what we had expected but Peter managed to stay there. Rafal was also there, which was good. Valverde proved faster in the sprint but, overall, today we showed excellent team performance. They all did a great job. Yesterday and today, our riders have worked extremely hard. We have done a great amount of work. We did all the work, while the rest of teams saved energy. I think that tomorrow it's up to the other teams to do the work, to keep it together and do a bunch sprint. We need to be careful with our squad because this was just the fourth stage and we have a long way ahead. We can't keep that rhythm every day”.