Giro d'Italia: Quotes from the finish line of stage 15

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Mikel Landa (Astana) capped another strong performance for his team by claiming stage 15 of the Giro d’Italia to Madonna di Campiglio but his teammate Fabio Aru was unable to pull back time on race leader Alberto Contador (Tinkoff Saxo). In fact the Spaniard managed to extend his overall lead, picking up vital seconds at an immediate sprint and then finishing ahead of Aru on the final climb.

Alberto Contador (Tinkoff Saxo)

"At one time it felt like a team time trial but it went well. We couldn’t go much faster because it was a crazy rhythm. I knew that when the attacks began Landa was strong. It was quite complicated to control but I looked after Aru and looked after the general classification. Landa won, he beat me and I didn’t let any one win. I had to think about Aru."

Leopold Konig (Team Sky)

"I think after the result today [I’m the leader]. We changed the plan last night and this is the priority. I just got dropped today but I’m trying to take every second back from my stupid crash. I just hope that time isn’t going to be important for when we get to Milan. I don’t know about Richie, I don’t know if it’s legs or motivation. You have to ask him."

Mikel Landa (Astana)

"We’ve done a very good race in the climbs. Our objective is to finish with Aru in the best place possible. We want to finish first with him but that’s difficult, no? I think we have second place with him secure but we’ll try wining the Giro. We didn’t want to let the victory for the stage go away from us and Alberto was looking at Fabio, and that gave me the advantage."

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