What happens when you ask Lorenzo Fortunato if his Giro form can put him in the Vuelta’s top five?

"Basically, we're starting with a plan to go for stage wins. The first day will be a matter of staying calm, not getting dropped, and finishing in the peloton. On day 2, the GC riders will finish at the front. Then we'll see how the condition is, and we can decide how to approach the rest of the race day by day. If I'm in good enough shape to go for the top five, top seven, or top ten, then I'll go for it. In any other scenario, I'd be better off staying calm and going for stages, like in the Giro. For now, I'd say stages. But let's see how it goes after the first week."

“Phew, I think I'm at about the same level. I was good in the Tour of Burgos and finished second. I hope to be even better here than in the Giro, but if my level turns out to be the same, that's totally fine too, haha.”

"That's a lot more difficult in the Vuelta. There are eleven uphill finishes, so for me, the eventual winner of the Vuelta is also the favorite for the mountain classification. There aren't many points to be gained during the stages; they're almost all at the finish on the climbs. If I go for stage wins, it could become a goal if I win a stage. But if I'm riding for the GC, the mountains classification will be complicated."

"It's more fun to go for stages, mainly because there are a lot of stages where you can take it easy and finish with ease. Now, many riders are aiming for a stage win, but by the third week, there will be twenty riders who will be aiming for the general classification. They'll feel that they're not being let go by the peloton, so they'll stick with it and ride for a top ten finish. I always put a stage win above a place just outside the top ten."

"If your goal is to finish in the top five, you might still finish in the top ten in a lesser Vuelta. But if, like me, you start the Vuelta aiming for a place in the top ten and you're not quite at your best, you fall out of contention and it's all for nothing. I've never finished in the top ten in a Grand Tour, but I'd love to do it one day. Only I won't know whether that's realistic until after six or seven stages."

“I still really enjoy riding for the GCs, but the people around me would rather see me win a stage. They don’t see much in seventh place and would rather cheer for a stage win or a brutal attack halfway up a climb.”

“I already discussed this with Landa and Ciccone in Burgos, but there is an additional problem: many stages with uphill finishes start flat. This makes it very difficult to stay at the front after a hundred flat kilometers. It's a bit of a strange Vuelta in that respect.”

“The Angliru, of course, but the Bola del Mundo on the penultimate day will also be very tough. And stage 2 in Italy is also important to me, although the final climb is not very steep and not long, so maybe we'll finish there with twenty or thirty riders.”

“That was certainly the case in the Giro and the Tour, but we're in a good position now so that we can take a few more risks in the Vuelta.”

"These days, you have to ride at 7 watts per kilo, and on good days I can do that. Every year, it gets faster, and I also notice that I lose 20 or 30 seconds in my heart rate zones. With the values I rode in last year's Giro dell'Emilia, I would have won in 2019. Now it's top ten at best, winning is really not possible with such performances."

"If I win a stage, or if I finish in the top ten in the GC. Or I'll be fighting for the GC and still win a stage, that's also possible."

“Haha, yes, but I've never finished in the top ten, so I can't possibly say I'm going for the top five.”

"Haha, deal!"

Bram van der Ploeg ( Twitter: @BvdPloegg | email : [email protected])