Nairo Quintana regained the lead in the Vuelta a España for the first time since Movistar riders won the Spanish Grand Tour outright in 2016, but the Colombian is not optimistic about his chances of holding the lead, at least in the short term.

On stage 9, Quintana and teammate Alejandro Valverde took turns attacking Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) before the finale of the Coastal Duncamp, and when Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) and Roglic both crashed, Movistar s two riders were ahead of the rest of the field.

Quintana's attack brought him close to teammate Marc Soler.

However, Quintana quickly realized that he had only a 6-second advantage over Roglic in the GC after this stage and that his chances of remaining in the red group for the Pau time trial on Tuesday afternoon were slim.

"I tried to pull away from my rivals and stay in front," Quintana, who said his main goal in the Pyrenees was to shorten his time on Roglic, told reporters at the finish line.

"It will be difficult to hold on to the lead.

After a surprising victory on the move to Capre on stage 2, Quintana struggled in the summit finish of Jabalambre on stage 5, but showed more strength in the rugged finish of Mas de la Costa 48 hours later. And on the Vuelta's only Pyrenean stage, the Colombian said he felt even better.

"After a rocky first week, today was a good day," Quintana said. Andorra was a very tough stage with the cold and hail. Andorra was a very tough stage with the cold and hail," said Quintana.

Athletes, race followers, and the general public all tried to get down to the Andorra valley using the same cable car. There are riders waiting in the cold." It will be a strain on them down the road.

Asked by one journalist why Sorel did not seem at all pleased that he had to wait for Quintana instead of going for the stage himself, Quintana said, "Marc had a team order to wait for me. The strategy today was to pull away from my rivals, so I'm very grateful for Marc's work."

Quintana claimed that although he said earlier this week that Valverde was the leader of the Vuelta, the team's idea was actually "to see what Alejandro and I can do in the race and support whichever rider is in a better position."

"We are both protected riders and have worked together to take the lead.

Four riders currently lead the GC by less than 20 seconds, well ahead of stage 9 winner Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), who is 1:42 behind, but as Quintana said, Roglic is most likely to take the lead after Pau's time trial is the most likely to take the lead after the Pau time trial. In the mid- to long-term, however, he was optimistic about his chances.

"I have to do a great time trial to not lose the red jersey," he said. But once we get through that, the team will keep fighting to get the jersey back. But once we get through that, the team will continue to fight to get the jersey back, and hopefully get it back at the end of the race."