Steven Kruijswijk´s yo-yo Vuelta continues. After bursting onto into third place overall thanks to the stage 13 time trial, the Dutchman ran into trouble on the steep slopes of Monte Oiz on Wednesday and slipped down to fifth. On Friday, he was back on the podium as the stars aligned for him on the Coll de la Rabassa. Kruijswijk´s LottoNL-Jumbo teammates were prominent at the foot of the 17km final climb, and when Nairo Quintana launched the first attack some 13km from the summit, Kruijswijk jumped on it with his teammate George Bennett. At first it appeared speculative but, after Bennett had fallen away, two guardian angels arrived in the form of Simon Yates and Thibaut Pinot.ADVERTISEMENT `When Quintana attacked I said to George to follow and we did, then suddenly Yates and Pinot came across, and that was perfect for me,` Kruijswijk told reporters beyond the finish line, a wave of Dutch journalists having made the trip to Spain after seeing Tuesday´s time trial. `They were pulling pretty fast and in the end I was only able to follow them - I couldn´t take any turns. Yates was so strong. He was out to gain a lot of time, I think, and I was able to take a lot of profit from that. I didn´t look back anymore. As long as Yates was pulling I knew Valverde was behind. That was the case and I was able to gain a lot of time back.` Many had predicted a contained affair on the Coll de la Rabassa given the brutal nature of the final mountain stage that awaits on Saturday, and Kruijswijk revealed he ignored guidance from his team in taking such an aggressive approach.
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