"We'll go for the stage" - Tom Pidcock aims for win and red jersey in Limone

The Vuelta a Espana often features stages that are mostly flat and then feature a summit finish that is not well adapted to the pure climbers. There are three such cases this year and in this type of day that doesn't suit many riders, we could see Tom Pidcock emerge as a quality contender. Today in the Alps, the Briton aims to win the stage and potentially take the race lead.

"I always take some time to get into races, but I had a decent summer, good races, Norway obviously very good, so yeah we'll see," Pidcock shared with Cyclingnews before the second stage of the race, having arrived in Novara safely on the opening day of the race.

He spoke after the stage and admitted that today's hilly stage is one that suits him and where he has ambitions of performing. "Tomorrow, we'll go for the stage, we'll go for the best result we can, and everyone's committed to that".

The final climb to Limone is around 10 kilometers long at an average gradient of 5%, with the final 2 kilometers averaging almost 8%. Hence it's not truly a climber's finale, but it should be too difficult for all the sprinters present. Inbetween are a few puncheurs and the Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team leader is the biggest name out of them.

After having taken on an altitude camp, Pidcock won a MTB World Cup race at home in Andorra and won the queen stage of the Tour of Norway with a stellar ascent of about 8 minutes in duration. He comes into the stage as a big favourite together with Giulio Ciccone and Jonas Vingegaard, in an arrival that can be quite tricky.

However the Swiss team faces a meaningful challenge on stage 5 when it arrives in Spain and the Briton is set to lose time to his rivals. "It'll be the first team time trial I'll have done as a pro. I did one back in the Tour de l'Avenir and one in the Tour of Britain," he admits. "We've done a few good practice sessions, we're pretty limited as it's not like we're as well-drilled as maybe some of the bigger teams. But we've done all we can, and we'll give it a go."