Miguel Ángel López's stay on the first rest day of the Vuelta a España was slightly off the course of the crucial time trial on stage 10, but when he spoke with reporters on Monday afternoon, he was already looking ahead to the challenges ahead on the ring road around Pau.

Lopez, who won the Maillot Rojo three times in the opening week of the Vuelta, is currently third overall, 17 seconds behind countryman Nairo Quintana (Movistar), 11 seconds behind second place Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma), and world champion Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) 3 seconds behind.

Sitting in the lobby of the Kyriad Hotel, Lopez admitted that the gap would widen considerably on Tuesday afternoon as Roglic is expected to take the overall lead in the 36km time trial.

"My biggest rival is Roglic. He's good at what he does and he's good in the mountains," Lopez said.

"I have to keep my time as low as possible. If you take the time trial seriously, you can probably shave a minute and a half to two minutes off. But there's still a lot of the Vuelta left, so I'm hopeful."

"There are a lot of high mountains after the time trial, so we have to stay calm and focused. I want to do well in the time trial and see what I can do in the stages after that."

Lopez had expressed similar optimism ahead of this year's Giro, but his attempt at the pink jersey fell short when he lost 3:45 to Roglic in the first long time trial in San Marino. His modest performance was mitigated by a puncture, but bad luck continued to plague the Giro, and he had a tussle with the wayward Tifoso on the road to Croce d'Aune.

On Sunday, Lopez's solo attack on the road to Andorra was interrupted by a crash on the gravel road following the final climb to Cortal d'Encampment. Lopez was 0.5 minutes ahead of his rivals and looked poised to retake the Mayo Rojo, but as hail began to fall, his tires slipped and he was forced to retire.

"I don't think about bad luck," he said. And if you analyze the other Grand Tours, you usually lose a minute or two at this point.

New Generation

With only 20 seconds separating the top four in this Vuelta, Lopez, the eventual winner in Madrid, now leads the overall standings, despite the looming presence of 20-year-old Tadei Pogacar (who won in Andorra on Sunday and is currently fifth at 1:42) He insists that it will come from a foursome.

"Yes, definitely. You can see that the four of us are always at the top," Lopez said. 'But we still have a long way to go and there are a lot of possibilities, so we'll have to wait and see.'

Pogacar's success in the Vuelta seems consistent with a trend this season in which a rising generation of young talent, led by Egan Bernal, who won the Tour de France at just 22 years old, has taken some of the big prizes. It is often forgotten, however, that Lopez himself is approaching his 26th birthday. The disappointment of finishing seventh in the Giro was offset by his second consecutive win in the young rider class.

"Yeah, I'm old," Lopez joked. No, seriously, there are a lot of young riders out there, and 25 is old. Last year we had a young guy on the podium of the Vuelta, and we had Egan in the Tour. It's unbelievable. 0]

A podium finish in Madrid is no longer the pinnacle of ambition for Lopez, who finished third overall in both the Giro and Vuelta a year ago. While this stage will inevitably set the tone for the second stage of the Vuelta, Lopez's hope is that it will not define his race. [The time trial is very important, but it's the mountain stages that are the most important," Lopez said. And there are still five or six really tough mountain stages left," Lopez said."