The 2020 Vuelta a España could be the lucky seventh Grand Tour of Hugh Carthy's career. The British rider is one of only seven riders in the lead group for the two mountain stages, the first stage on the summit of the Alto de Arate and Wednesday's 1,200-meter Alto de San Miguel de Araral.

With EF Pro Cycling teammate Dani Martinez, who was slated as GC leader, crashing on Tuesday and losing 4.5 minutes of time, Kersey is now expected to be the team's main man in the final standings for the race in Madrid in early November, with race He is in sixth place, just 20 seconds behind leader Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma).

While others such as Jumbo Visma's Tom Dumoulin and Ineos Grenadier's Chris Froome struggled in the intense start of the last Grand Tour of the season, which was hit by the coronavirus, Kersey has found himself in the sweet spot.

"I'm feeling good, day by day," Kersey said after the stage to Leckmberg. 'It's only the second stage, so I'm calm. I've felt good in training the last few weeks. I was a little tired after the Worlds, but I knew that after a couple of weeks of rest and time at home, I would be back on track. I wasn't too worried. Everything had been going well during the week, I was feeling good, healthy and motivated.

Kersee has made steady progress since his first Grand Tour appearance in the 2016 Vuelta, when he raced in Caja Rural, and since joining the Slipstream Sports organization in 2017, he has gone from a domestique on the climbs to a He has become a main contender; in 2019 he took a stage win and the mountains prize at the Tour de Suisse and finished 11th overall at the Giro d'Italia; after supporting Rigoberto Urán at the Tour de France a month ago, he is free to ride for the best results at the Vuelta.

"When I'm in good shape, I can do more than everyone expects of me," he said. 'Yesterday's climb was very good and just the right length to fit my terrain. It was steep, the surface was bad, bumpy and pitchy. Both were good climbs that I knew well."

With Martinez out of contention for the overall, the EF Pro Cycling team as a whole will be looking for a stage win rather than protecting Martinez, Kersee said.

"They will probably go for the breakaway, and the guys who don't ride the breakaway will hang back and support me. So it will work out naturally rather than having one or two dedicated riders for me. It's not stressful, and it doesn't overcomplicate things and make things crazy. Divide the team into several groups. We have good riders who can do it all."

Due to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak and travel restrictions, the flat stages in the Netherlands were cancelled, condensing the Vuelta a España to 18 stages. After that, stage 9 will be the last stage without a major climb. Despite such a difficult race at the end of the season, Kersee says the peloton remains motivated.

"It's the Vuelta, it's October, everyone is tired and you think you're ready to climb through, but the Vuelta is one of the biggest races in the world. A lot of riders haven't raced a Grand Tour all year and are still looking for a team or trying to sign a contract. There is no Grand Tour where half the peloton is trying to escape. It feels like a normal Grand Tour, albeit the weather is a little different.

"Like the Tour, GC has been limited the last few days. It will be interesting to see what happens in the coming weeks. In other words, there is a good chance for a breakaway and a good chance for a stage win. Each team has several strong riders. It should be an interesting couple of weeks."