While it may be fun to talk to reporters about Sicilian desserts, his idol Alejandro Valverde, and his past as a soccer player, in the midst of friendly small talk, Giro d'Italia leader Juan Pedro Lopez (Trek Segafredo) has promised to protect Maria Rosa He also promised to ride as fast as he could to protect Maria Rosa.

Lopez took the lead on the summit of Mount Etna, following in the footsteps of his mentor and former team boss, Alberto Contador.

But it is much harder to predict whether his climbing talents will prove enough to hold the maglia rosa over the next three tough days across southern and central Italy, starting with Friday's seventh stage, the climb to Potenza.

Southwest Spain's Lopez is currently 38 seconds behind Leonard Kemna (Bora-Hansgrohe) in the Etna breakaway, 58 seconds behind Line Taaramae (Intermarché Wanty-Gobert Materio), and 1:42 behind Simon Yates (BikeExchange-Jayco). and holds a relatively narrow lead.

And with tomorrow's marathon stage through the hills and mountains of southern Italy, followed by a punchy hilly circuit stage in Naples on Saturday and a challenging summit finish in Brockhaus on Sunday, this time gap could soon be destroyed.

Still, Lopez was resolutely upbeat after finishing day three in the pink jersey on Thursday, telling reporters that he would "defend the jersey at all costs." It is never easy to defend the jersey at each stage. It won't be taken away from me that easily."

A big fan of soccer, especially his hometown Primera Liga side Betis, Lopez was also asked about his past as a soccer player, which he shares with Belgian talent Remco Evenpoel, and why he turned to cycling. He said it was because he needed to lose weight.

"I was 10 to 12 kilos over what I should be, so my father, who loves cycling, got me on the rollers to lose weight," Lopez said. Then we went out to work out together, and I got back into cycling."

On the subject of food, another journalist confirmed that the Italian staff of the Trek-Segafredo team had made him cassata, an exquisite Sicilian dessert, as a reward for coming out on top in the race.

Journalists eager to know more about the personal background of a rider who has yet to win a race professionally, Lopez's third piece of trivia revealed that while he has a clear connection to Alberto Contador, he is also a fan of Movistar's Alejandro Valverde was revealed to be a fan of Movistar's Alejandro Valverde.

"We talked a lot in the last two days and we congratulated Jose Joaquin Rojas [Movistar racer] on his baby born last night. Either way, everyone at Movistar is my friend. As soon as the stage is over, I get on their bus and we chat a bit."

To get back into cycling for the long haul, Lopez has repeatedly said that his goal in the Giro is to work for his teammate Giulio Ciccone. And even in Friday's super-sleepy stage, Kemna's swoop to snatch second place in a bonus sprint was a warning shot to the Spaniard that he is always under threat.

"I don't know why the stage was so easy," he said. I guess because we knew it was going to be a sprint finish and the sprinter teams had everything under control." Friday will be harder, but I'm ready."