Steven Kruijswijk used to be a rider who would have comfortably settled for a top five overall in a Grand Tour. But after almost winning the Giro this year, he says he wants more than the top five in the Vuelta.

“Hopefully I’ll be at the same level as in the Giro,” Kruijswijk told Cyclingnews before Saturday’s start. “But we’ll have to see. I had a long training period after the Giro, did the Olympics and was a little bit sick when I got home. Hopefully I’ll be fresher and will have some advantage on the rest of the riders who did the Tour and everything. We’ll have to wait and see for the first week.”

For Kruijswijk, the most interesting thing is his lack of Vuelta experience on the short and steep hills compared to the lack of freshness the likes of Froome and Quintana have after longer seasons.