Remco Evenepoel heads into the final week of the second Grand Tour of his young career secure in the leader's red jersey but shedding time with each mountain stage.
The Belgian, who holds a 1:34 lead over three-time winner Primož Roglič ahead of the final six stages of the Vuelta a España, has four mountainous stages standing between him and overall glory in Madrid, with Thursday's Alto de Piornal summit finish on paper the toughest of the lot.
Speaking at a press conference during Monday's rest day, Evenepoel said that, having aimed for a stage win and a top 5-10 GC placing before the race, anything he achieves now is "extra" on top of what he's already done.
On the two summit finishes of the past weekend, he had suffered stiffness and pain following a mid-stage crash on Thursday. He ended up shedding a total of 1:07 to Roglič on Saturday and Sunday, though he now feels that he's recovering from his injuries.
"My body felt stiff because of my crash. You can't compare Saturday with Sunday," Evenepoel said of his performance on the two days. "I couldn't stand on the pedals properly and that's what you need on the steep climbs. Saturday was all the negatives coming together and it wasn't the best situation.
"I think we fought back yesterday, even if I had some troubles in my leg from the crash. Today I have no soreness so I'm really recovering.
"In the next few days, I just have to try to follow. I'm not only looking at Primož Roglič and Enric Mas, but the whole top five. The more stages I get through without losing time, the better. Then it will be a big battle on the final mountain stage on Saturday."
Evenepoel, a master time triallist, noted that he had ridden at his own pace to limit his losses at Sierra de La Pandera and Sierra Nevada. It was a strategy that ended up working as Roglič and Movistar leader Mas went on the attack as he came through the longest summit finish of the race on Sunday with his lead well intact.
"Roglič and Mas are both going very well," he said. "I think Roglič was the strongest of all on Saturday and Mas was very strong yesterday. When he attacked I knew I was still quite a bit above him in GC so I didn't want to above my limit.
"Keeping my own pace didn't allow them to ride away. I was scared to go above my limits yesterday which is why I kept pushing my own power. On such a hard stage, the time loss was quite limited."
Evenepoel can afford to put in similar performances at the summit finishes of the Monasterio de Tentudía and Alto del Piornal this Wednesday and Thursday, while Saturday's race to the Puerto de Navacerrada will be more about guarding against a long-range ambush attack.
Given his performance increase between Saturday and Sunday, though (Roglič gained 48 seconds at La Pandera and just 15 seconds at Sierra Nevada), Evenepoel remains the big favourite to take home the red jersey.
"It's true that I would be the first Belgian Grand Tour winner in a long time, but I have to stay calm because there are still six tough days ahead," he said.
"It's best to try and stay calm, look at the race day-by-day and see what each day brings. We saw last week that a crash can happen before you know it."
Evenepoel still has other rivals to contend with beyond the riders he's battling with on the road, too. Among them are the roads of southern Spain, which he said everyone is cautious of, while another is COVID-19, which claimed a 24th DNF of the race on Monday as Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Soudal) was forced to abandon.
"Danger is lurking around every corner," Evenepoel said. "I think everyone is scared of the roads here in southern Spain. We're taking it slow on the corners because the road is quite slippery. Anything can happen and we have to be focussed 100% every day.
"COVID-19 is going all over the bunch. Some guys are riding with it. My biggest fear is getting sick and not being able to finish. That would be a nightmare."
