Breakaway's winning chances on Giro's stage 10 depend on "whether UAE wants the win or not with Pogacar" Alberto Contador says

Alberto Contador, Eurosport analyst, has given his opinion of the tenth stage of the Giro d'Italia. It is a hard and short day of just over 140 kilometers and with a summit finish that comes just after the rest day.

"Here comes the tenth stage of the Giro d'Italia, quite a hard high finish. The start of the stage is more or less flat. We are talking about a short stage and soon comes a small mountain difficulty of those that hurt the legs of the riders and that do not give points in the classification of the mountain," Contador said in an analysis for Eurosport. "Then a descent and ascent to Composauro, a second climb not too hard but with higher percentages, then downhill and then all uphill to the finish line. The last climb, Cusano Mutri, is 16 km at 5.6% average gradient but the last 6.5 km at 7.2%.

The Giro, Tour and Vuelta winner believes that the breakaway will be of quality due to the difficulty of the route and it's chances of victory will depend on what Tadej Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates decides to do:

"I think it's going to be a great opportunity for the breakaway, I think it's going to be hard fought, I think it's possible that we'll get to the first mountain without it being created and that one of quite a bit of quality will form," 'El Pistolero' believes.

The Slovenian has so far been the overwhelmingly stronger climber in the race, and the outcome of the day, he thinks, should be decided according to UAE's plans: "We have to keep an eye on whether UAE wants the win or not with Pogacar to see the options for the breakaway."