Iban still 3rd

Iban had another outstanding performance in the high mountains today to claim fifth on the stage and stay third overall. Iban came in with most of the favourites 38 seconds down on surprise winner Soler of Barloworld, and thus maintained his great overall placing. Though, Iban did not attack at all today, something he explained afterwards: "I´m satisfied with this stage, taking into account that I´ve been feeling cramping pains since I began to climb the Col du Galibier. I even thought of stopping to stretch out, as I couldn´t stand on my bike. But then I decided against this and chose to ride on, without joining in the changes of pace in the last part of the ascent. It turned out to be the right decision. With a big help from Cobo, I managed to finish among the favourites. Having a teammate assisting me was crucial, since we all knew that victory was out of the question and thus chased for Contador and Evans. In the final climb to Briançon, I forgot about the cramps and gave it the full gas. The final stretch showed that we were all equally strong. As I´ve already said, you can fail in any stage during the Tour. Today we saw how big guns like Moreau, Schleck, or Kashechkin were not in the same shape as in Tignes. In my case, I didn´t expect to be in one of the leading spots after the Alpine stages, so I´m very glad. The next decisive stage is the time-trial in Albi (stage 13), but I don´t think it will change much. Except for Klöden, there are no big time-trialists in the leading positions. So then it will be the Pyrenees that will decide who´ll win this Tour de France.” I`m counting on you Iban...