There is a 23-year and 69-second gap between the two main challengers for the final overall win of the 2020 Vuelta a San Juan.

Belgian cycling golden boy Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-Quick Step) holds the leader's jersey. Oscar Sevilla (Team Medellin) is 43 years old but is the eternal El Niño and is most likely to take the leader's jersey from him.

Filippo Ganna (Italy) is in second place overall, 33 seconds behind Evenpoel, but despite his final podium finish in 2018, he poses a far greater threat to Evenpoel before the decisive summit finish in Alto Colorado on stage 5 The team currently in third place, 1:09 back, is Sevilla, which has a 1:09 lead over the rest of the field.

The Spaniard won the overall in 2018 and placed third the year before.

"Personally, I think Oscar Sevilla is the biggest threat," Evenpoel said after defending his lead at Villa San Agustin on Wednesday. 'It's a pretty big advantage and I hope we can defend our lead.'

Even though Evenpoel built on this overwhelming advantage with a brilliant time trial ride to Punta Negra on Tuesday evening, Sevilla highlighted his incredible form by finishing third in the same stage ahead of the high-profile time trialists.

Like Evenpoel, Sevilla also fell 3.4 km from the end of the opening stage.

"After the crash I had some problems with my right leg and some anxiety, but I did my best. I wanted to go faster, but I'm happy."

Sevilla turned pro in 1998, and by the time Evenpoel was born two years later, he was already 13th overall in the Giro d'Italia. The Spaniard's career peaked with a second place at the 2001 Vuelta a España, and although he lost the jersey to Angel Casero on the final day in Madrid, he continued to attract attention in the European peloton until 2006, when he was fired by T-Mobile for his involvement in the Operacion Puerto

He was thus ousted.

Thus began the days of exile. Sevilla was first banned from the ProTour, and in 2007 he joined Relax-GAM. He then sought opportunities in the Americas, first with Rock Racing and then with a succession of teams in Colombia.

In Sevilla's first year living in South America, he tested positive for hydroxyethyl starch at the Vuelta a Colombia; he was suspended for six months in the winter of 2011-12 and won the Vuelta a Mexico soon after his return. He has continued his remarkable success in Latin American stage races, winning the Vuelta a Colombia and the Classico RCN three times each, as well as the national tours of Ecuador and Chile.

"If it wasn't for Operacion Puerto, I would probably still be in Europe, and I would have a lot more money and fame, but I wouldn't be as happy as I am now," Sevilla told Cycling News at the Vuelta a San Juan three years ago.

Sevilla lives in Bogota with his wife and two daughters and always gets up at 5:00 a.m. to train. The week before San Juan, he trained for 33-35 hours."

Egan Bernal has been a regular training partner for many years. Sevilla said, "I met him five or six years ago. He was a boy on a mountain bike and I saw his condition. I knew he was going to be a great cyclist."

When the Vuelta a San Juan resumes on Friday after a rest day, Sevilla will get a chance to compare himself with another precocious talent in Alto Colorado. 12 months ago, Evenpoel finished 24th in the Alto Colorado stage and won Sevilla, who finished fifth behind Winner Anacona, by less than a minute.

Of course, things were quite different. In his first race as a junior, Evenpoel supported his Dečuninck-Quick-Step teammate Julien Alaphilippe on the climb.

"I'm a better rider than I was a year ago," Evenpoel said. I'm a better rider than I was a year ago," Evenpole said.

The Alto Colorado stage is a staple of the Vuelta a San Juan and has been an important part of all three previous international editions.

In 2017, Bauke Mollema finished third behind Rui Costa on the summit to take the overall win. A year later, Gonzalo Najar won convincingly and took the jersey, but was later stripped of the overall title due to a positive CERA test, and Sevilla took the title; 12 months earlier, Anacona's victory in the Alto Colorado was the foundation for his overall win.

Friday's stage is 169.5 km long, and the peloton will head from San Martín to the summit of Alto Colorado at 2,565 meters above sea level. Although the official announcement calls for an overwhelming final climb of 14.4 km with an average gradient of 4.4%, the reality is that the final 50 km or so will be a gradual climb, beginning just after the second intermediate sprint through Talcasto.

This endless road to the finish is divided into three parts, from 959 meters to 2565 meters in elevation. First, the category 2 Baños de Taracasto leads to the Alto de la Crucita at 1752 meters above sea level. After a brief rest, the riders will launch their final attack at the rarefied heights of Alto Colorado.

Another factor on the exposed road from Tarracasto is the wind, and as Evenpoel noted on Wednesday night, caution is key.

"There will always be echelon. It happened last year and the year before. It doesn't feel like we're climbing, but we're actually climbing for 80 kilometers, almost three hours." The hardest part is the last three kilometers."

For Evenpoel, the climb should be tactically easy. Sevilla is the obvious danger man and he must keep the Spaniard in sight, which may give more leeway to under-climbed riders like Guillaume Martin (Cofidis). The Frenchman is 2:28 behind after the time trial, but showed off his climbing form as the race passed through the Ischigualasto Provincial Park.

Eduardo Sepulveda (Movistar) is 1:57 back in 12th place and will look to move up in the overall standings, while 2019 Giro di Sicilia winner Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) will be looking to defend his top five overall spots. Others, including Nicolas Paredes (Medellín) and veteran Jose Rujano (Venezuela), will be looking to shine in Alto Colorado.

At the top of the list, however, are the old and young Evenepoel and Sevilla.