"This Giro d’Italia will be won in the mountains" - Alberto Contador on which days he thinks will be decisive

Alberto Contador is a former winner of the Giro d'Italia and someone who knows the race better than most. Looking at the brutal route of the 2023 edition, he has shared his opinion on how and where the race will be decided.

"I really like the Crans Montana stage, I think it's a very, very hard stage in the first week. I also really like the Tre Cime di Lavaredo. This will be really hard. It's a stage that always makes a difference, often with bad or adverse weather, which was fine for me," Contador shared with Eurosport. "And I also like the last time trial. It's a real wall. We're talking about 7km at 12% and the last 4km over 15%. That's what the Giro d'Italia is all about: adaptability."

Stages 13 and 19, both of which will feature over 5000 meters of climbing and more than one ascent at over 2000 meters of altitude, have been pointed out as crucial days for him. The final time-trial to Monte Lussari - which as the time being is not confirmed on whether it'll be raced or not. Besides that there will be two individual time-trials in the opening week which see almost 55 kilometers of flat roads and two mountain stages.

"The time trials will be crucial; if you don’t go well, then you won’t be in a good way. We have five finals at the top that are really hard climbs and with the route ascending more than 50,000 metres, this could affect the race," Contador continues. "There is more than one rider who is good at time trials and if you do well, it’s easy to fight for the victory."

However from the second week onwards the race completely changes. Stage 13 will decimate the GC battle, stage 15 in Lombardia also features 4000 meters of climbing, whilst in the final week also stages 16 and 18 features very different but very complicated mountain stages where on a bad day riders risk losing minutes.

"In my opinion, this Giro d’Italia will be won in the mountains," Contador believes, however a lot can happen within them. "The most important thing in the Giro is to not have a bad day. At the Tour de France or La Vuelta a Espana you can lose one minute but in the Giro, if you get dropped, you can lose six or seven minutes. The Giro is different. The hard, demanding and chained passes, together with very variable weather (you can go from 30 degrees Celsius to a day of 0 degrees and snow) and the distances - we are talking about a race with 11 stages of around 200km and that is something that is no longer usual.

"The Giro d’Italia is my favourite race for sure. It was my first time in 2008 and three weeks later I won. For me it is the most beautiful race. You can play the race with the tactics, you can break the competitors because you can attack in moments when at La Vuelta or the Tour you can’t. It is my favourite race, La Vuelta is special because it is at home and the Tour de France is the biggest bike race in the world, but for how you race, it’s the Giro d’Italia," 'El Pistolero' concluded.