Diego Ulissi (Lampre) struggled through the early part of yesterday's very hard stage in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco. He was dropped on the day's first climb but assistance from his teammates brought him back in contention and he ended up 9th on the stage.

With a recent overall victory in the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali, Diego Ulissi arrived in the Basque Country with plenty of confidence. He performed strongly on the steep ramps on stage 3 and was right in the mix for the overall victory.

However, the Italian is not a big fan of cold conditions, and he struggled on Thursday's queen stage of the race. Yesterday saw another wet and cold day, and once again Ulissi struggled to cope with the harsh weather.

He was dropped early in the race when an aggressive start made for a very fast opening phase of the race, and only strong help form teammates Jose Serpa and Simone Stortoni brought him back in contention. As the day went on, his sensations improved and even though he missed the front group on the final climb, he limited his losses and ended up 9th - 20 seconds behind stage winner Richie Porte (Sky).

“Things became complicated after the start: I had no energies in my legs," he said. "I thank my team mates for having helped me to ride over this situation. Tomorrow's time trial will be an important final stage since I hope to improve my GC position."

The team's other captain Damiano Cunego mainly uses the race as preparation for the Ardennes classics, but "the little prince" has been right in the mix on each stage. Yesterday, he ended in the second big group 44 seconds behind Porte, and he was happy with the stage's outcome.

“During the stage, my feelings were good, but when (Samuel, ed.) Sanchez attacked, I could not follow him," he said. "I suffered and I tried to limit my losses."

Last year, Cunego surprised most by ending up 5th in the last time trial to secure 4th in the GC. With another tricky race against the clock scheduled for today, the Italian hopes to repeat last ear's performance.

"In 2012, I did a very good time trial in Pais Vasco: I’ll try to repeat that performance," he said. "Today, we covered the final 22 km of tomorrow's course and we could see that it will be a tough time trial."

Ulissi is now 10th overall 1.03 behind race leader Sergio Henao while Cunego is 13th 1.28 behind the Colombia.

Starting at 15.25, you can follow the final time trial on CyclingQuotes.com/live.