Tinkoff-Saxo rider Michael Rogers has labelled this year's Giro d'Italia as the toughest yet and there are still 12 stages left of the first Grand Tour of 2015.
Rogers' team leader Alberto Contador leads the field by three seconds after the first nine days of the race, with the Australian bemoaning the gruelling terrain for already taking its toll within the peloton.
Prior to Monday's rest day, Astana's Paolo Tiralongo won Sunday's stage to help pull Fabio Aru closer to Contador.
"I've a lot of data from the last five Grand Tours I've done and I can tell you this has been the hardest, by the feelings and by the numbers," Rogers told Cyclingnews.com.
"It's been a tough race. It's a very competitive field and course. Sunday had more than 4,000 metres of climbing, it's a tough race.
"But we love this race, we really respect the maglia rosa [the leader's pink jersey] and we'll keep riding as hard as we can to keep it.
"We spent a lot of energy but it goes to a worthy cause, the maglia rosa.
"I think this [Sunday] was one of the most difficult days of the race but I hope they start to slow down soon – it would make our job a lot easier."