Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG): "The truth is that it's really nice to win here. I was in this town, Los Corrales de Buelna, my two years as a junior, racing for the Besaya cycling club. I stayed here with them for the two summers I was a junior, so it's really nice. I have many close friends who are from here, and we are going on holiday together in a few weeks. I'm not from here, I'm from Javea, but the truth is that this is a place I'm very fond of.
After such a hard day, you don’t know who’s the fastest. I had to play my cards, I had to make [Javier Romo] a bit nervous and play in the final kilometres saying I already won a stage and he had to put more if he wanted to arrive. I was told from the car to play like this. It’s not something I really enjoy, not cooperating fully, but sometimes you have to play smart. That’s what I did in the final. I knew the road quite well because it’s also where it finishes in the junior race. I knew how to time my sprint and it went perfectly.
I attacked on the hardest parts of the climb, and it was also tailwind there, instead of headwind. Also, Soler did a great job, putting the pace and trying to control a break that was nearly as big as the peloton, so thanks to him I could have the race more or less under control until I decided to go."
