Primoz Roglic says he is ageing "like a fine wine" as he attempts to shrug off a 10-year age gap on world champion Remco Evenepoel at the Giro d'Italia.
Roglic, 33, has won three stages on the Giro in his career and is a triple Vuelta a Espana champion.
However, Belgian star Evenepoel, who succeeded him as the title winner in Spain last year, is 10 years his junior and widely tipped to dominate the Giro which starts on Saturday.
"Like a fine wine, the older I get, the better I am," said Slovenian rider Roglic on Thursday.
"I am wiser, more experienced, I feel strong."
He may need that greater experience over the next three weeks after three of his Jumbo-Visma teammates pulled out of the race due to Covid-19.
"It's obviously not ideal but we're going to deal with it and we're going to find solutions," added Roglic, who hailed the challenge posed by Evenepoel.
"He showed in Liege-Bastogne-Liege that he was in great shape but we will try to make life difficult for him," said Roglic.
The veteran rider said he is looking forward to the last of the three weeks of the Giro when several stages pass the Slovenian border.
"It will be nice to see lots of Slovenian flags," he said.
"It's often the hardest week and it still seems to be the case this time around. That's where I would like to have the best legs, that's obvious."
This will be Roglic's third Giro – he finished third in 2019 after dominating the first half of the race.