On the back of his best spring season for years, Alberto Contador returns to the Tour de France with the aim of conquering the race that he hasn't won since 2009. However, he admits that Chris Froome is the big favourite and even claims that the defending champion was stronger in this year's Criterium du Dauphiné than in last year's Tour de France.

Last year Alberto Contador had a disastrous season that culminated when he could only manage fourth in the Tour de France. Having only won a single race back in January, the Spaniard was a far cry from the rider who had once dominated the grand tours.

This year everything has been different. With overall victories in Tirreno-Adriatico and the Vuelta al Pais Vasco and second places in the Volta ao Algarve and the Volta a Catalunya, he lines up at the Tour de France as the best stage racer of the spring. Despite last year's failure, he goes into the world's biggest race with just one goal in mind: to win the race overall.

“The objective can only be to win,” he told Spanish sports daily AS on Tuesday. “If I was only fighting to finish second, I wouldn’t be motivated enough to make the sacrifices I have to. But it’s clear that there is a top favourite [Froome], who’s been really strong in the last two years, and who will be equally strong this year. It’s going to be difficult to beat him, but nobody’s unbeatable. That’s what they said about me, too.

“At the end of the day, what you have to do is be as strong as possible and see where that gets you. Last year he dominated the Tour and there was absolutely nothing we could do about that. I felt a bit odd when our team went up on the Tour podium as winners of the best team award. That’s one of the things that has spurred me on to do better this year.”

Contador and Froome last clashed in the Dauphiné where Froome won the opening time trial and the first mountain stage before a crash made him crack in the final weekend. As a consequence, the Brit finished outside the top 10 while Contador took another runner-up spot in the French race.

Despite having beaten his rival in that race, however, Contador was impressed by his rival's strength. In fact he claims Froome to have been stronger in the first mountain stage of the race than he was when he won the 2013 Tour.

“I’ve never seen anybody ever do that," he said, referring to Froome's attack on the Col du Beal. "It was way stronger than what he did on the Ventoux last year. It was very tough and sustained, 35 seconds flat out. That gives you something to respect, although not to fear.”

Contador, however, was able to hold onto Froome's wheel which provides him with confidence for the Tour. It is evident that the gap between the two has significanly narrowed since last year's one-sided affair.

The race will be decided in the final time trial and on paper it suits Froome a lot more than Contador. The Tinkoff-Saxo leader admits his rivals superiority but draws some positive conclusions from the fact that the only TT comes late in the race.

"It is true that Froome, on paper, is better than me in the time trials, but every race is different and while the Tour de France time trial is pretty long, it comes late in the race," he told Bicycling in an interview. "I am always best in late-race time trials. They are always a bit different since the fatigue of each rider comes into play."
 

In last year's Tour and in this year's Dauphiné, Contador tried to attack Froome on descents. Contador admits that it may be a weapon in his arsenal but doesn't expect descencing to decide this year's Tour.

"It is true that sometimes Chris doesn’t descend very well, but sometimes he descends fine," he said. "Honestly I don’t attach much importance to it. I don’t think it will be a big factor."
 

Much has been said about the non-selection of Bradley Wiggins for the Sky roster. Like his team manager Bjarne Riis, Contador sees the absence of the 2012 champion as a clear advantage.

“What we can see, from an external point of view, is that they are not going to have a rider there who has won the Tour, who has a great deal of experience and who right now is in a great state of form," he said. "From inside... I don’t know what the circumstances are that have caused them to take this decision.”