Wiggins: A fantastic finish

Bradley Wiggins (Sky) was in an upbeat mood after what was arguably one of his strongest ever mountain performances, in which Dan Martin (Garmin-Cervélo) was the only top leader able to beat him at the end of stage nine of the Vuelta a Espana.

Wiggins and Froome, though, dragged the group back up to Martin when the Irishman went on the attack with Nibali mid-way through the climb and in the process the two Sky riders shredded the peloton, with riders of the calibre of Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) losing time.

"I'm delighted with how things have gone," Wiggins said afterwards. "Once I'd seen the others were in difficulties I went into time trial mode and I just tried to take as much time off of them as possible."

"Everything I earned today was a bonus, I thought I'd just be limiting my losses. It was a fantastic finish."

"The team were brilliant again, Froomey [Chris Froome] was shining, he's really come to the fore now and proved his worth."

"It was phenomenal to see and the rest of the boys have not put a foot wrong all week. I haven't had to lift a finger, even though I've been nervous at times, they've put me in the right position when it's mattered and coached me through it."

"We're all looking forward to tomorrow [in the Salamanca time trial] cos it what's we do best, we'll go out there and give it everything."

"What's happened today must have been demoralising for the other contenders, specially the weaker time triallists who'll have to go out there for an hour tomorrow."

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Vuelta a Espana 2011

: Stage reports

Stage nine: Martin wins as Wiggins moves further up GC

Stage eight: Rodriguez wins again to take overall lead

Stage seven: Kittel wins chaotic bunch sprint

Stage six: Sagan takes Vuelta stage win in controversial circumstances

Stage five: Rodriguez takes second win for Katusha but Chavanel holds on

Stage four: Moreno wins first mountain skirmish at Sierra Nevada

Stage three: Lastras solos to stage and takes red jersey

Stage two: Sutton grabs stage win to set things right for Sky

Stage one: Leopard-Trek win opening TTT to put Fuglsang in front

Vuelta a Espana 2011: Photo galleries

By Graham Watson

Stage eight photo gallery

Stage seven photo gallery

Stage six photo gallery

Stage five photo gallery

Stage four photo gallery

Stage three photo gallery

Stage two photo gallery

Stage one photo gallery

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