Andrey Amador is one of the most tired riders at the Giro, as he sits fourth on GC with just one mountain stage to go and has to wait till late at night to fulfil media obligations with the media in his native Costa Rica due to the time zone.

 "There's an eight-hour time difference but the journalists from back home call me a lot in the evenings to talk to me about the race," Amador told Cyclingnews. "It's not always easy because it's after the stage and I'm having dinner or massage or something, but I try to keep in contact with them as best I can."

Amador has admitted that while he knew he would be in good shape at the Giro, he didn’t expect to be challenging for GC honours in a team that includes Benat Intxausti and Jon Izagirre.

"Yes, it's a bit of a surprise. I knew I was in good shape before this Giro, but I didn't expect to be in fourth place overall at this point, to be in with a shout of the podium.”

He says the biggest difference in this season to last is that he has lost weight in order to be able to compete in the mountains.

"The biggest change this year has been to my weight," said Amador, whose best Grand Tour finish up to now was 29th in the 2012 Giro. “In the past, I was always a rider who carried five or six kilos more and I was looking at the classics and time trials. But I saw that as I lost weight, my climbing was getting better and better. I'm not a climber but I can climb at my own tempo and limit my losses. So I think that's the biggest change, my weight."

It's a thought echoed by Movistar manager Eusebio Unzue. "It's a big surprise for us too, but I think experience is the biggest factor: he's become more professional in his approach," Unzue told Cyclingnews in Melide on Thursday. "He's lost a lot of weight compared to previous years and he's seen how that can help him progress. Now he's getting over the big mountains too."