We knew it would be hard today, more so with the rain, ... There's still another week to go, so we can't celebrate yet.
If he doesn't yield, it's possible that we'll have a repeat of yesterday in Cerler, although Sastre said that he misunderstands both Mancebo and me. But if Menchov bends, the race will be much more aggressive and everyone will go hard without holding back.
I felt well, especially when I attacked in the tunnel with five kilometres to go, ... But I couldn't continue because this climb wasn't very difficult. The hardest bit was at the beginning, and Menchov stuck to my wheel so that didn't make it easier: there was a headwind.
The key has been the time trial in Lloret, where the first part favoured me and there were no differences, but in the second, Menchov extracted time. Then, he defended itself very well in the mountains, though these climbs were not excessively hard and a strong guy can't be dropped.
It's an important stage with a very demanding and hard route.
It's a hard course and it's not tailored for the specialists because it has a lot of hills. It can make a lot of differences if you're strong. I know the route well because I have ridden a lot in the area, including training and in Setmana Catalana.
I felt good, especially when I attacked about 5km to go, but I couldn't keep going because this climb isn't that hard. The hardest part was at the beginning and Menchov was glued to my wheel.
There's still the stage to Lagos and that will be the key stage, because it's a hard climb and there you can't just follow the wheel.