Giro d'Italia contender Simon Yates will test his Grand Tour form at the three-day Vuelta Asturias in northern Spain starting Friday.

Yates, who finished third overall in Milan last year and is considered one of the favorites to win this year's mountain race, will head to Asturias after a high-altitude training camp, surrounded by many of his teammates who will take part in the Giro.

"Asturias is the last challenge before the start of the Giro in Hungary. We wanted to change the race calendar compared to the previous year, so these three stages will help us refine our preparation," Yates said in a BikeExchange-Jayco press release.

"We finished our training camp in Andorra a few days ago. It will be a good opportunity to test our legs and tactics." [The Vuelta Asturias is one of Spain's most venerable stage races, with the first edition taking place in 1925. Stage 2 is arguably the toughest stage, with the famously difficult Alto de Acebo climb stretching for 202km. On Sunday, May 1, five days before the start of the Giro, Asturias will conclude with a short stage back to Oviedo.

Renamed Vuelta Asturias Julio Alvarez Mendo, Asturias will be held under its rarely used full name as a tribute to the longtime race director who died in 2008.

Nairo Quintana (Arkea Samsic) won here in 2017 before finishing second in the Giro d'Italia, and in 2018 and 2019 Asturias will be won by Movistar-affiliated Richard Karapas (Ineos Grenadiers) before finishing fourth in the Giro four years ago. He won the race and was the outright winner in 2019. Giro contender Hugh Carthy (EF-Easy Post) also won in 2016, when he was a member of the Caja Rural Seguros RGA, and in 2015, now-retired Basque climbing star Igor Anton.

Yates last raced in the Volta a Catalunya, where Bike Exchange Jayco won back-to-back stages with Michael Matthews and Kayden Groves, but Yates himself abandoned due to illness. Before that, in Paris-Nice, he showed his climbing ability on the final day to finish second. He had never raced Asturias before, but with only WorldTour team Movistar on the starting grid this year, the British racer is the favorite in Asturias.

"Our plan for the Vuelta Asturias is simple. We are taking the bulk of the Giro d'Italia team, so it's like a dress rehearsal before the main goal this spring."

"We did the same thing last year at the Tour de Alps, but this season we did it a little differently. But I'm going to go into this race and the Giro afterwards with the same mentality."