By Hernan Alvarez Macias in Granada
1998 Vuelta a España champion Abraham Olano is a member of the current Vuelta organization. Cyclingnews spoke to him on Friday and he was clearly looking forward to the next three weeks. "I can't wait for the start," said Olano. "I can see excited people, some people are already tired, but we are excited to watch the show that gives the Vuelta".
Referring to the favourites Olano said, "I saw the Spanish teams are the favourites, we should see how [Gilberto] Simoni (Lampre-Caffita) is doing. In my opinion, the candidates are inside the national [Spanish] outfits."
Climbers should be favoured by the route of this year's Vuelta, but Olano pointed out that it was "not only for climbers, but also for a rider who climbs the mountains well and who makes gaps in the time trials. There are two time trials where some riders can increase the differences, even though we all know in the last one they cannot make big gaps. I think the ascents are hard, but not as hard as the ones they rode in the last few years."
