Alberto Contador ended his season in Il Lombardia and has enjoyed his holiday since early October. The Spanish grand tour star has now resumed training at his base in Lugano and is preparing the first team camp which starts on November 20,

After a 2013 season that didn't live up to his lofty expectations, Alberto Contador is ready to start his preparations for 2014 which he hopes will see him return to his position as the world's leading grand tour star. Having enjoyed his holiday since his final race in early October, Il Lombardia, the Spaniard has now resumed his training at his base in Lugano.

The early work is expected to lay the foundations for Contador's participation for the first team camp of his team which will be known as Team Saxo Bank in 2014. It is set to kick off on November 20 in Gran Canaria and will give Contador and the team management and opportunity to continue their preparation of the coming season.

Contador has made it clear that the Tour de France will once again be his main target but that he also plans to ride the Vuelta at the end of the season. He blames his lack of results in 2013 on his early start to the season and will postpone his race debut compared to this season when he already started racing in January in the Tour de San Luis.

The resumption of his training comes at a time where his team has attracted much attention from the media due to rumours that team owner Bjarne Riis has sold the team to Russian businessman Oleg Tinkov. Both parties have denied the claims but Tinkov has confirmed that negotiations are ongoing, not only with the Danish team but several current or coming projects.

The Contador camp is as surprised by the rumours as most other have been.

 "The story has nothing to do with the facts," they told Biciciclismo. "There is no agreement, and if there was, it would be brand new. At the moment, we know nothing about it and only about the denials of both parties in the press."

For Contador, a renewed partnership with Tinkov would put him in an awkward situation. The Russian has been highly critical of Contador's performances and even suggested that he would continue his sponsorship of the team if Contador had left for the Alonso team.

At present, Contador will leave the speculation to the press and concentrate on his 2014 season.