Lawson Craddock (EF Education First) was on the verge of his first pro win on stage 11 of the Vuelta a España, but came up short on the final fence.

Instead, Mikel Iturria of Euskadi Murias, less than a month Craddock's senior, took his first pro win by six seconds.

Already in fourth place in the time trial in Pau, Craddock actively participated in the 14-rider breakaway on stage 11. When the breakaway broke apart in the second category, Col d'Espeguy, 65 km from the line, when the breakaway partially regrouped near the finish, and when the four-rider chase group behind Iturria finally closed the gap.

However, the gap was reduced to 9 seconds at the finale and 6 seconds at the finish, but Craddock had to settle for third place.

"I was lost, that's for sure. There were a lot of promising moments and we were able to go to the finish in a group, but I was a little disappointed that I couldn't cooperate with the break in the last 40 km," he told reporters.

"After all, that's racing. The Muriath riders did a great job and I'm very proud of them.

Craddock said he may have overplayed his hand tactically, given that he was clearly in great shape.

"I thought I had the legs to win, but sometimes when you're in too good of shape you let it show a little too much. People start looking at you. You have to use your head more than your legs, you have to think more.

"Unfortunately, I wasn't able to accomplish that today. For a rider like me, chances like this don't come around very often. To miss out on the win is frustrating to say the least."

EF Education First had a brutally tough first part of the Vuelta, with team leader Rigoberto Urán, Tejay Van Garderen, and Hugh Carthy forced to retire injured, and three group crashes causing three retirements.

The Vuelta was a brutally tough early stage.

Craddock said that after this tough opening race, the team turned its attention to stage wins, and the fact that EF director Juanma Galate, who grew up near stage 11, was in the team car as they raced through the winding roads of the Basque Country and the hilly terrain north of Navarre was a decisive advantage, he said.

"This was a big training area when he was a racer and he knew every hole in every road. It was great to have him in my ear," Craddock said.

On how he could have run differently and won, the Texas-born racer said: "It was definitely a great moment when the Mullius guy went. In hindsight, you always think, "I should have gone with him.""

"But it's hard to commit to that in the moment. It was a tough race and we were marking each other. I was eventually able to get into that [chase] group, but the race didn't go my way."