Nibali: We will try to isolate and attack Froome

With his third place in today's stage Vincenzo Nibali makes another small step forward the leadership. With 4 bonus seconds, in fact, is now 55 seconds down on race leader the British Chris Froome

"In the last 100 kilometers - says the Italian champion - we have made a strong pace to try to make the race harder. Froome is obviously favored in Tuesday's Time Trial and so I must try to recover as much as possible in these two mountain stages “.

“No doubt that Froome is a great rider and he also has a great team" - adds Vincenzo - "we will do our best to isolate him and then try to attack him. Tomorrow stage will be really tough and the route will have long climbs that I prefer”.

"The Sierra Nevada stage" SD Gorazd Stangelj explains "is only 130 kilometers but is terribly demanding. Unlike today, in fact, the first climb arrives after only 55 kilometers from the start and can already make the difference. It should be added that this stage comes after two very hard days and the fatigue will be felt in the legs of many. "

The fifteenth stage, as mentioned, is a real "Queen stage". Two first-class climbs of 16.3 km and 8.5 km respectively make the Alto Hoya de la Mora starter: 19.3 km with an average slope of 5.6% and a maximum of 10%. It will be a battle between the Top riders and those who want to wear the red jersey in Madrid will have to try to win it.

Sunday's Stage 15 from Acala La Real to Sierra Nevada is only 127 km, it is a short and sharp and not one to be missed and the summit finish will surely see some dramatic racing.

The peloton face over 3,200 metres of climbing finishing on Alto Hoya de la Mora, with over 28 kilometres of climbing to the finish line.

The start is over rolling roads towards Granada and a descent, at 30 kms the roads starts to climb to the first category Alto de Hazallanas, which amounts to 16 kilometres at 5.5%, it's the last 7 kilometres which are the toughest. This section averages more than 10%, while the steepest ramps are 22%. It plunges down 22 kilometres before the Alto de Purche appears.

Overall the Alto del Purche is 8.5 kilometres at 8% and Alto Hoya de la Mora 19.3 kilometres at 5.6%. The double climb makes for one of the toughest in cycling history at around 28.5 kilometres at 5.9% and rises to nearly 2,500 metres above sea level.

The 15th stage of the 2017 Vuelta leaves at 13:50 CET (07:50 EST, 12:50 UK) and the finish is expected around 17:30 CET (12:30 EST,  16:30 UK).

You can follow LIVE coverage of the whole stage here on granfondoguide.com