While Quintana, who was a disappointing third at July’s Tour, is believed capable of extending his overall lead this weekend, Briton Froome will have a significant edge over the Colombian in the 19th stage 37km individual time trial.
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Jens Keukeleire won stage 12 of the Vuelta a Espana as Nairo Quintana retained the leaders’ red jersey ahead of Chris Froome.
It mattered little to Quintana, though, having already done enough damage in the GC, the 26-year-old now clear favourite for a second Grand Tour success.
Keukeleire handed the Orica-BikeExchange team their second stage victory in this year’s Vuelta with a perfectly timed surge in the final stretch to pip his rivals.
Froome remained between two and three minutes behind as they approached a summit finish.
“We opened a gap, we kept it high and at the final climb, I gave everything to keep Chris well behind”.
“For me it is not a surprise what happened to me today, especially if we consider the difficulty of the stage”, said the Spaniard.
Quintana’s Movistar teammate, Alejandro Valverde, was the major victim of the mountain marathon, fading fast at the start of the last climb. Colombian Johan Esteban Chaves remains third, a further 20 sec behind Froome, while Contador jumped from sixth to fourth and within sight of a podium finish.
Quintana launched no less than six attacks against Froome on the last of four mountain ascents, but the Tour de France victor responded each time to stay within a minute of the Colombian climber entering the race’s final week.
Three-time Vuelta victor Contador eventually trailed off towards the finish, coming home 34 seconds behind Brambilla in sixth place.
Contador said that he wanted to shake up the race after a disappointing stage on Saturday when he failed to keep up with Quintana and Froome in the French Pyrenees.
The Tinkoff rider hinted that his objective might be to get a stage win during the second half of the Vuelta, “I’m going to have a look at the stages and decide what to do.” he said.
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“We have had pretty similar calendars and I am also exhausted, but I hope that in this third week I can maintain as good as or a better pace than him”, added Quintana.
