  Context. GRS 1758-258 is one of two prototypical microquasars towards the
Galactic Center direction discovered almost a quarter of a century ago. The
system remains poorly studied in the optical domain due to its counterpart
being a very faint and absorbed target in a crowded region of the sky. Aims.
Our aim is to investigate GRS 1758-258 in order to shed light on the nature of
the stellar binary components. In particular, the main physical parameters of
the donor star, such as the mass or the spectral type, are not yet well
constrained. Methods. GRS 1758-258 has remained so far elusive to optical
spectroscopy owing to its observational difficulties. Here, we use this
traditional tool of stellar astronomy at low spectral resolution with a 10 m
class telescope and a long slit spectrograph. Results. An improved spectrum is
obtained as compared to previous work. The quality of the data does not allow
the detection of emission or absorption features but, nevertheless, we manage
to partially achieve our aims comparing the de-reddened continuum with the
spectral energy distribution expected from an irradiated disc model and
different donor star templates. Conclusions. We tentatively propose that GRS
1758-258 does not host a giant star companion. Instead, a main sequence star
with mid-A spectral type appears to better agree with our data. The main
impacts of this finding are the possibility that we are dealing with an
intermediate mass system and, in this case, the prediction of an orbital period
significantly shorter than previously proposed.
