I’m very happy with the team work that enabled me to finish on the podium of La Vuelta. My team-mates have always ridden flat out for me. We already had done a great Giro before and we kept the same mentality at La Vuelta. Unfortunately, I missed out on the stage victory yesterday. We wanted it badly for celebrating the birthday of Alexandr Vinokourov, our manager at Astana. It’s a pity to have three second places in stage but the third place overall makes the whole team happy.
