Tinkoff Team have gathered their 2016 roster in the Croatian city of Porec for the first gathering. The climate is mild, the hills gentle. There are no hardcore actions like climbing Kilimanjaro or military camps as it was under Bjarne Riis.

"We now know each other quite well. We do not need team building stories," is the explanation from the Russian team. In a relaxed atmosphere after team owner Oleg Tinkov has flown back to Moscow, Alberto Contador gives his review of the past season and his entire career and looks ahead to the objectives still to be achieved.

"I am satisfied with how 2015 went. Especially the Giro victory has pleased me. Of course I would have liked to also win the Tour. Those were the only targets I had in 2015. The Double was everything I wanted. I tried it but at the Tour I was more fatigued than expected," was Contador's balance on the press conference. However, the Spaniard didn’t appear to be disappointed. He even amazed by saying. "If I were 25 years old, I would try more often. The Double is a good thing and it was also a good change not to race between the Giro and Tour [he actually won the Route du Sud in June, ed.]. I still think that the double is possible. It just didn’t work out for me,” radsport-news.com reports him as saying.

Therefore Contador does not exclude another attempt but this time his double will be consisting of the Tour and Vuelta. "But that depends on how the first part of the season goes, with prestigious races like Paris-Nice and the Tour of Catalonia. Then we have the Tour and then I want to represent my country at the Olympics. The course seems to be quite hard. Then the Vuelta is a possibility," Contador said.

Despite his numerous stage race wins, his most emotional victory was taken in Australia. "That was the queen stage of the 2005 Tour Down Under which I won. I had previously had brain surgery and no one could tell me if I would sit ever on the bike again or if I would be able to race. I have then won many important races. However, from an emotional point of view that was the most important victory for me," explained the 32-year-old.

Contador has a little regret that his preparation for the Tour de France has him denied him the chance to go for the win in the spring classics. "These are big race. If the Tour preparation had not always been my focus, they would also have had opportunities for me," he said and mainly pointed to Liege - Bastogne - Liege as a missed chance. However, the lack of classics results doesn’t seem to be a major issue. "In one-day races, you also need luck. You can better plan in the three-week races. That’s why I like stage races better.”

Contador has no doubts about the biggest rivals during his career: Chris Froome. Contador was particularly impressed by how hard the Briton worked to get to the current level. "And unlike Andy Schleck he always had a strong team at his side." For the 2016 Tour, he also points to Froome as the biggest rivals but warned that "you also have to keep an eye on Quintana. From year to year he gets better. And while Froome will probably be the strongest in the first part of the Tour, Quintana will be strongest in the final part.” He doesn’t want to change the course. “It’s perfect, well-balanced."

After the Croatian journalists had asked the Read Madrid fan Contador to assess the pros Luka Modric and Mateo Kovacic, the Spaniard gave his advice to the young cycling generation. "They should enjoy being on the bike and not immediately think of the success. If you work on the bike and develop a good relationship with it, the successes will come. I know professionals who didn’t win a single race in the youth ranks. Then with the pros as the mountains got steeper, they have suddenly taken wins. One should never give up and ride the bike because of the pressure of family, friends or because you want to win.”

Contador also explained why he is a cyclist. "I do not have the talent of Cristiano Ronaldo. Cycling was the only opportunity left," he said. Unlike football and athletics which he also did at a serious level, he especially loved "the degree of freedom and the speed you have when you ride away from home” in cycling. In addition, there was another aspect. "I just didn’t get tired when I rode my bike.”

Contador rode slowly with his team-mates to a state clinic in Opatija to where medical checks were performed. Host country Croatia offers infrastructure for cycling teams. In the medium term, the Istria region wants to compete with the southern Spanish city of Calpe to host winter training camps. "The price-performance ratio is good here," said ex-pro Vladimir Miholjević. The Croatian is a big figure in his home country as he also manages the Tour of Cratia. For 2016, he has already Tinkoff team on the start list and they will go there with Giro captain Rafal Majka as leader. In 2017 he wants WorldTour status for his race.