Christopher Froome plans to make the best out of the first rest day at the Vuelta a Espana 2012
Christopher Froome was well placed to grab an overall victory at the Vuelta a Espana with the second overall position after the stage 8 classifications.
He was 33 seconds behind the race leader, Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver of Team Katusha and was optimistic to cut down the lead on his Spanish competitor.
Rodriguez however, turned the tables around during the 196.3 kilometre stage 9 of the race and extended his lead to further 9 seconds.
Philippe Gilbert of Team BMC registered his first victory of the 2012 season and finished the ninth stage in a total time of 4 hours, 45 minutes and 28 seconds.
Rodriguez finished almost at the same time and occupied the second position with Paolo Tiralongo, Tomasz Marczynski and Daniele Bennati finishing at the third, the fourth and the fifth positions respectively.
Christopher Froome could only manage the 46th position during the stage 9 of the race which made his task of occupying the top overall spot a little too hard.
While cyclists are enjoying the first rest day at the race, relaxing their muscles, restoring their energies for the coming stages, Froome is busy with his Sports Director Nicolas Portal strategising on how to improve his overall position.
Nicolas cited, "Froome finished with the main group so he has kept hold of second place. It was a tough finish today and we know it will be a very big fight over the next two weeks".
"It was a very opportunistic attack from Rodriguez on the climb so well done to him for that. He is looking to take as many seconds as he can at this stage and it is a very open race," said Portal at the end of stage 9.
"We will look forward to the rest day now and spirits are high within the team," he said.
Moreover, Joaquim Rodriguez and Christopher Froome are not the only two contenders fighting for an overall victory at the Spanish Grand Tour as they are accompanied by none other than Alberto Contador of Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank at the third position.
Contador is participating only in the second race since his return from suspension and is just 7 seconds behind Christopher at the third overall spot.
The battle between the top three overall contenders will be quite interesting in the coming days of the Vuelta, as they are all ideally placed to register their first Grand Tour win of the season.
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