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.

I’ve had great moments during this Vuelta. I can’t choose one between my two stage wins. The worst moment was yesterday when I got kicked out of the podium. But it hasn’t been a disaster since the public kept supporting me. I see Enric Mas as a great rider for the future. For now, he’s pretty similar to Contador. He’s got skills for time trialing and climbing. He’s a versatile rider. I also hope to have a good future… by doing even better in two weeks time at the world championship.

It’s been a great moment to appear on the final podium of La Vuelta. It was my goal although I kept it for myself coming into the race. I might be a different rider now after I achieved this but I’m the same person. I hope for more moments like in the future, including on the top spot.

It’s still hard to believe that I’ve won La Vuelta. I was disappointed to not win the Giro but I’ve made it up. I’m in shock. I got really nervous when I went on stage. My natural habitat is on the bike… I enjoyed the moment. It was a very special one. We’ll see what my future is like. I’ll keep trying very hard to win races like La Vuelta.

I lost my train today. We’re at the end of the third week of a Grand Tour. That makes a difference. I think I lost my lead out with 2km to go at a roundabout but I remained confident that I’d come from the back. At the last corner, I told my guys that I wasn’t there so they slowed down. Every mistake makes us improve. But the outcome is really good. We can be proud of what the team achieved during La Vuelta. We also sacrificed our lead out train in the mountains to give Enric [Mas] the best help to make the podium overall. As a team, we’ve had a beautiful...

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team): “You have to accept defeats. When you win, awesome, and when you lose, it means the rivals were stronger than you. I was suffering a lot in the second ascent of Coll de Beixalis. I suffered from there and that was it. The team has been phenomenal during the whole of La Vuelta and Nairo (Quintana) proved today a good a teammate he is. Of course it hurts (to get down the podium) but you can’t ask for anything more when you’ve given it all you had. We take home the teams classification. I take the points classification and...

Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), winner of the KOM classification: “It’s a jersey I’ve been aiming at in the last few years in the Tour and here in La Vuelta. It’s my fourteenth Grand Tour and it’s the first time I succeed so it’s really nice to finally be able to win this. I just needed a bit of luck with the breakaways. Today, (Bauke) Mollema was at the front but (Ben) King wasn’t there so I just had to focus on one guy. And my condition has been really good for the past three weeks. I was aiming for the World championships but I’m...

Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott): “Yes, I’ve made it! It’s still sinking in. I’m incredibly proud. I’m also incredibly proud of the team. They’ve carried me for these entire three weeks. It’s the first Grand Tour for the team. It’s just unbelievable. Adam (Yates) was running out of legs (when he attacked in the penultimate climb) and I didn’t want to end up in a position where I could have been riding in the valley, that would have been the worst situation possible. I knew Quintana and Lopez were up the road and Lopez had...

Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors): “I looked at the video of Alejandro Valverde’s victory here in 2012 and I knew I had to come first in the last curve. I went full gas until the corner and then I just kept going until the line. This is my second big victory after the stage at the Vuelta al Pais Vasco and I’m very happy with it. I’m also very happy with my second place on general although I’m a bit nervous not to crash and do anything stupid in Madrid. I’m a young 23 year-old kid enjoying myself. I’ve been dreaming of this for years....

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team): “Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, it’s part of cycling. What’s happened to me today can also happen to him (Simon Yates) tomorrow. To win La Vuelta is complicated, for sure. It was complicated this morning, it’s complicated now, but it’s not impossible. We’re going to try. I’m still confident. There were riders in front when Yates attacked. It was a well done move.”