Alejandro Valverde virtually secured himself another Vuelta a Espana podium spot in today's stage of the race. Despite having been put under pressure by Joaquim Rodriguez, the Movistar leader never felt that his position was under threat.

After eleven victories in 2014 - including the Spanish TT Championships, the Flèche Wallone and San Sebastián - and his career-best fourth place in the Tour, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) is just 24 hours away from adding another big success to already one of his best seasons as a pro, with a Vuelta a España podium he left all but confirmed on top of the Puerto de Ancares (HC). The Galician colossus, tackled today in its steepest version from Pan do Zarco, with slopes up to 20% and 12km over 8%, confirmed the race hierarchy in Spain as Contador (TCS) won the stage ahead of Froome (SKY) and Valverde who put all his strength out to secure a more-than-deserved 3rd spot..

Suffocating pace from Team Sky on the climb prior to the mountaintop finish, Folgueiras de Aigas (Cat-1), neutralized the day's break -Niemiec (LAM) was the final survivor - reduced the group to about twenty riders, with Gorka Izagirre as final Valverde support; and prepared the race for several attacks from the beginning of the climb, with Rodríguez's (KAT) atttacking with 9km remaining. After reaching almost 30" gap, with Valverde always leading the pace behind to keep his 3rd place overall, several moves from Froome took them back to the front. The last acceleration caused Valverde to drop off, yet with constance, intelligence and seniority, Valverde gained back terrain, reached Rodríguez - who had been dropped by  the two top contenders - and left him behind to finish just under a minute behind Contador.

1'22" will be the margin Valverde will have on Rodríguez for the race epilogue, a 9.7km individual time trial in Santiago de Compostela with lots of turns, ramps and short descents where the Murcia-born rider will seek for a sixth GC podium finish in his Vuelta career.

"I never felt like there was a real threat to my podium finish today," Valverde said. "I had good legs and everything was more or less under control through the whole climb. When Purito jumped away, I kept my pace in the pursuit, and then, when Froome attacked, I did sort of a sprint to save some energy and not waste it afterwards in another pursuit to chase them back.

"However, Froome's pace change was really strong and there was a point when I had to stop and keep going at my own pace. The problem is - you never know if it's the time to stop following them, and actually Froome and Alberto stopped with their action just ten seconds after.

"I still kept my own pace and managed the gap until the end. When Purito dropped I was able to accelerate and catch him, and when I did, I knew the podium was more or less done - on the final slopes, as I saw it was impossible to get back to the lead, I set an easier pace.

"About tomorrow's TT, I know more or less what you can see from the profile, though it's also known that there might be rain, and thus it might become more risky. It will surely be beautiful for the fans to enjoy with us. We can make it to the overall podium again tomorrow; it would be my sixth time in the Vuelta and I'm really happy about it, as well as the whole, great season we've done so far.

"I am very happy to finish on the podium again. I've never felt under threat. I had good legs and I was in control. We had the misfortune of losing Nairo Quintana due to a crash. With the two of us, it would have been a completely different Vuelta but I am happy with what we have done: third overall and two stage wins "