Alejandro Valverde was one of the big losers in today's queen stage of the Vuelta a Espana as he was unable to follow Chris Froome and Alberto Contador. The Movistar captain admits that he was up against two superior riders but is still hopeful that he will be able to defend his second place.

The five climbs, more than 4,500 meters of vertical drop on stage 16 - 160km finishing atop La Farrapona (Cat-1), after La Colladona (Cat-1), El Cordal (Cat-2), Cobertoria (Cat-1) and San Lorenzo (Cat-1) - made a big impact on Alejandro Valverde's legs at the end of the hardest mountain stage of the 2014 Vuelta a España, way more than the previous ones. The Spaniard from the Movistar Team, represented by Adriano Malori in the day's early break, crossed the line in 4th spot after a strong attack from Chris Froome (SKY), only followed by eventual stage winner Alberto Contador (TCS) as Valverde, Joaquim Rodríguez (KAT) and Italian Fabio Aru (AST) struggled further back.

The unsuccessful pursuit by the two Spaniards kept the loss stable on the fourty seconds Froome put on Valverde at the finish, while ahead, Contador opened a bigger gap with an attack just before the final kilometer, leaving his GC margin over Valverde in 1'36" as Froome sits now just three seconds behind Valverde in third place.

The overall standings will remain intact at least until Wednesday, in the first of five stages in Galicia after the riders enjoy a well-deserved, final rest day in the A Coruña province.  

"Froome launched a strong attack halfway up the ascent, and Alberto and he were able to keep that pace," Valverde said. "We did what we could, but both Contador and Froome were really great today, superior to us. There's still the final week ahead and anything can happen: we can improve our situation or lose more time, but the race is still on.

“Contador has done very well. He could follow Froome on his strong attack. Behind them, I’ve given some turns to Purito but none of us was very well and at the end of the day we’ve just done what we could. The last week of racing is yet to come and anything can happen. Froome isn’t second yet…”

"Froome is a strong rival in this Vuelta, doing really great, though you can see he goes through better and worse days. We'll see if he is be my biggest rival for this last week or not. We're still there at the moment - the race is not over until Sunday and we all must keep fighting."