Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) has predicted that Wednesday's stage of the Vuelta a España could well be one of the toughest of the entire race, thanks to a combination of heat, climbs and increasing exhaustion as the event enters its third week.
Stage 17's final climb of Mas de la Costa has never before featured in the Vuelta, but it is said to be very similar to Peña Cabarga, the four-kilometre ultra-steep ascent in Cantabria where Chris Froome (Sky) narrowly defeated Nairo Quintana (Movistar) last week. Contador has argued, however, that "the time differences will be much bigger."
"I know the climb personally and I went up it very recently. The gaps will be far bigger. It's going to be extremely hot [around 35-40 degrees is forecast – ed.] and there's more than 3,700 metres of vertical climbing. It'll be one of the hardest days of the entire Vuelta."
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Fourth overall, Contador remains – as ever – convinced that the race is not lost, and that "a thousand different outcomes are possible. I'm not sure what I'll do from here on, but I'll do something, that's for sure."
Contador is currently 4th overall, 4:02 behind overall leader Quintana, but only five seconds off third-placed Esteban Chaves (Orica-BikeExchange).
"The podium was never an objective, rather I wanted to win the race outright," Contador said. "However, Nairo has a good lead and he's a long way off overall now."
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