Alejandro Valverde has been presented with the opportunity of a lifetime to finally finish on the thus far elusive Tour de France podium this year. Coming into the race, Valverde was amongst the top 5 favourites, but thanks to DNFs from Froome, Contador and Talansky and a bad day for Porte, he now sits second overall.

“There are still five or six riders who are close to the podium. We’re third, we’re well placed,” Valverde said. “We have to think about more. Third is good, but if we can gain more, even better.”

“I am on the ‘podium,’ and I don’t want to lose it, but I am thinking about more,” Valverde continued. “We’re heading into the truly hard part of the race. Nibali is strong, but we have good legs, and the team is every day stronger. We’ll see.”

Valverde knows that despite taking time on all of his GC rivals yesterday bar Nibali and Leopold Konig (who is probably too far down in terms of time to challenge for a podium), he faces a tough battle to remain in his second place. There are a string of Frenchmen chasing him, including White Jersey Romain Bardet, challenger Thibaut Pinot, veteran Jean-Christophe Peraud as well as Dutchman Bauke Mollema, Belgian Jurgen van den Broeck and the American Tejay van Garderen.

Valverde has stolen second rather than taken it, as he has not really gained time on any day other than yesterday, but rather he has not lost time on days when his rivals have, apart from the cobbled stage. In fact, up until yesterday, Valverde had hardly been seen, only following in the wheels and finishing on the same time as his rivals.

“He started easier, with the idea to arrive at the Tour a little off his top form. He didn’t race Dauphiné, and we came here with the idea of hitting peak form in the third week of the Tour it will play in favor of Alejandro,” Movistar sports director Jose Luis Arrieta told VeloNews.

“The objective has always been the podium. Now we are there, but realizing that Froome and Contador are not here, those are two places, now we have to see, and one day we will have an option to aspire for more,” Arrieta continued. “Alejandro likes to race, always aiming for the top.”

“I believe we have a good opportunity in this Tour. It’s a shame that Froome and Contador are not here, and I want to deliver to them my wishes of a fast recovery,” Valverde said. “I survived this first part of the Tour, despite the setbacks, and I overcame everything... Now the real Tour starts.”