Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff) will be making a return to active racing next week at the week-long Vuelta al País Vasco (Tour of the Basque Country) in northern Spain, no doubt strive for his first overall win of the season as the numerous steep climbs and narrow roads are ideally suited to Contador, who won back-to-back editions of the race in 2008 and 2009.

Citing an attack of the flu Contador missed last weekend’s Critérium International on the island of Corsica where the Tour de France will start this year, but team officials confirmed that the Spanish climber would be at the starting line for the Vuelta al País Vasco, scheduled for April 1-6.

Many of the top favourites, including Contador, will use the Basque tour as a means of honing their form ahead of Ardennes classics such as Flèche Wallone and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

Prior to the Critérium International, Contador had kicked off his 2013 season with a stage win and fourth overall at the Tour de San Luís in January and fought to second behind Chris Froome (Sky) at the Tour of Oman a month later.

Earlier this month, Contador finished third overall at a wildly contested Tirreno-Adriatico, where Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) successfully repeated his 2012 win.

This year’s Vuelta al País route features the not so insignificant number of 32 rated climbs, with summit finishes at La Leiana on stage 3 and Arrate on stage 4. There are no less than 10 rated climbs in what should be a brutal ride through stage 5 and a 22 km individual time trial to settle the podium on stage 6.

Contador will face fierce competition from a quality pack, with Paris-Nice champion and Critérium runner-up Richie Porte (Sky) bringing peak form to Spain.

Andrew Talansky will spearhead Garmin-Sharp while Tejay van Garderen, third at Critérium, will head the BMC Racing challenge. Defending champion Samuel Sánchez will captain a strongly motivated Euskaltel-Euskadi team racing on home soil while 2010 winner Chris Horner and Andy Schleck are due to feature for RadioShack-Leopard.