Samu happy for friend Irizar

Samu was delighted both with his own and his team's performance, as well as for former team-mate Markel Irizar, when speaking to the media after the conclusion of the Vuelta a Andalucía today. Samu himself finished ninth, and speaking to the team's website after the race, he declared: "Oscar Freire was the right winner today, just like Markel Irizar was the rightful winner of the overall. Congratulations to both of them. But it was annoying not to win today. It was so close, and I wanted to dedicate an eventual win to Koldo after his crash yesterday. But in general, I'm happy with my performance all through the race. In the decisive stages we've shown good form and we've been in the mix. This race has allowed me to retake racing again, step by step ,and get the racing-rhythm back in my legs. It's impossible to forget the loss of Koldo, who is an important rider for us, but the dynamics in the team were good. My team-mates have performed really well and protected me every kilometre of the race with a positive and good attitude."