Movistar’s two main GC hopes, Alejandro Valverde and Nairo Quintana, met the press together on the first rest day of the Tour de France, in keeping with the image that they share leadership – although Valverde is the team’s clear number one.

Valverde was satisfied with how the first third of the Tour went: “There’s still a long way to go, but I’m enjoying my race so far. I’m second overall after a first week we were always a bit afraid of. And the two Pyrénées stages were very beautiful both for the spectators and for us riders; they offered such a big spectacle. I want to thank all the members of my team – each and every one of them did great. And spare a thought for Iván Gutiérrez: He had a bad day yesterday and had to abandon. He’ll be sorely missed.”

The Movistar leader didn’t think he and his team could have done more on yesterday’s stage: “Froome was isolated yesterday, but almost the entire stage was either climbing or descending, and it’s really difficult to drop him on the climbs. The pace was high all day – pushing even harder was difficult. With Porte, we took one rival out of contention, and that was a good reward and important for the remainder of the race.”

Valverde berated the other GC teams for not working together with his Movistar team against Froome on the stage to Bagnères-de-Bigorre, and denied the existence of a Spanish alliance with Contador and Rodriguez: “I can’t see any sort of alliance against him right now. We saw him left on his own yesterday, and it would have been a good opportunity, but we were all alone. If other teams had cooperated, we could have made a difference. I’m not sure we’ll get such a situation again.”

On Wednesday’s ITT, the 33-year old wants to limit his losses: “Froome is better than me and all the others; look at the Dauphiné ITT. That’s why I hope to lose as little time as possible to him, and stay level with or even ahead of my other rivals.”

Valverde said that the race was far from over yet: “There are still lots of mountains ahead, and every contender can have a bad day and lose everything. Porte seemed to be the strongest rider next to Froome, and look what happened. The Tour isn’t won nor lost until we get to Paris.”

“It will be a long race, and it will all come down to the four stages in the Alps, all of which are really hard. We have seen that Sky doesn’t have as strong a squad as last year; and should Froome become isolated again, we can really hurt him.”

“We’re still fighting for the win, but we have to appreciate what we have already and try to defend this second place. I’d sign if someone offered me a podium place in Paris in exchange for a stage win. I have won Tour stages already, but I haven’t made it to the overall podium.”

Valverde finished by praising his young Colombian teammate: “On the other hand, all of you have seen what Nairo is achieving. He has already shown this season that he’s capable of winning WorldTour races, and now he’s showing that he’s the best climber along with Froome. Obviously, it’s better to have him as a teammate than as a rival. To me, he is able to win a Grand Tour in the future, possibly even more than one.”

Nairo Quintana set the race alight with his attack on the Port-de-Pailhères on Saturday, even though he ended up losing 1:45 minutes. And on the Hourcette d’Ancizan he accelerated four times trying to shake off the yellow jersey. The 23-year old is 7th in the general classification and leads the youth classification, but he remains humble and upholds that he’s in France in a supporting role: “I’m still a young rider and don’t know how far I can get. For the time being, I’m in the top-10 overall, and I hope to keep that placing as well as the white jersey until Paris; but I’m totally committed to the team, and Alejandro is our leader.

“I came here to do my part, and we’re all doing our best for Alejandro. We have proven to be the strongest squad in the race, and we will keep fighting to finish as high as we can. We're all strong and will make things difficult for our rivals."

The Colombian admitted that he may have been too eager in his attacks: “Of course I’d like to beat Froome in the mountains, but I have to be calmer as there is still a long way to go, and the race could be too hard for me in the end.”

He also finished with some nice words about his teammate: “Alejandro is a calm person, on the bike as well as off it. He’s a role model to me: He’s not like other riders who sometimes feel they’re superior to the rest of the world. I like his personality and he's a person I really respect and admire.”