Contador: Mas de la Costa stage will be one of the toughest of the entire Vuelta a Espana

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.

Alasdair Fotheringham

Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The IndependentThe GuardianProCycling, The Express and Reuters.