Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) may have lost his place on the podium of the Tour de France on Friday but the Spaniard has vowed to continue the battle, starting today on the Mont Ventoux.

The Movistar Team rider is now 17th overall, trailing Chris Froome (Sky) by 12’10”. Nevertheless, Valverde remains optimistic: "The difficult and challenging mountains commence now and may cause major upsets in the general classification. Evidently my position has changed radically because of the time I lost on Friday’s stage. But there are still plenty of stages on which mayhem can be brought to the race, and excitement can be brought to the fans,” Valverde told Biciciclismo.com.

"There is still one more week left in the Tour. The podium is very difficult to reach for me now, but I think major changes will take place. I’m sure that next week will witness some great upsets" Valverde insisted.

Tough though it may be, the Mont Ventoux is a climb that brings good memories to Valverde. "I've done great things there on previous occasions, in the 2009 Critérium du Dauphiné, for instance [Valverde won that stage]. But with the Mont Ventoux coming after 242 kilometres and 15 stages, it will be a really tough day."

The rider from Murcia was quite adamant in stating that he wants to turn the page and reverse Friday’s misfortune: "Of course you get pissed when something like that happens and it is not your fault due to carelessness or bad equipment, but these things happen and you can’t do anything, cycling is that hard sometimes."