Alberto Contador has arrived in Portugal for his first race of the season, the Volta ao Algarve which kicks off on Wednesday. Having started his season later than he did in 2012 and 2013, the Spaniard has not too many ambitions for the Portuguese race, preferring to focus on his first real objectives which are Tirreno-Adriatico, the Volta a Catalunya and the Vuelta al Pais Vasco.

After a disappointing 2013 season where he only won a single race and could not do better than 4th in the Tour de France, Alberto Contador has returned to his former race schedule that will see him make his debut in the Volta ao Algarve. This is a significant change compared to the last two years when he kicked off his racing campaign already in January's Tour de San Luis.

The 5-day race kicks off on Wednesday and includes a bit of everything. Friday will see the riders tackle a 13.6km time trial while the traditional mountaintop finish on the Alto do Malhao is scheduled for Saturday. The remaining stages will suit the sprinters.

Today Contador has arrived in Portugal for the race and is a former winner of the event. However, the Spaniard is keen to play down the expectations, preferring to keep his focus on the WorldTour races that will be his main spring targets.

"My goal is to win and I hope that this year will be better than last season," he said. "I am very motivated and very excited. I could do a quieter preparation than in 2013 and have been working on my base. I hope it can be felt on the road.

"I wanted to do the quiet work in training. I like to race but I need to have certain guarantees. Now the work is already done and it is time to compete again.

"It will be my first race and there will be riders who have much more race speed than I have. The goal is to accumulate racing kilometres and look forward to the next races, Tirreno-Adriatico, Volta a Catalunya and the Vuelta al Pais Vasco."

This year Contador will focus on the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana but has also insisted that he wants to have clear targets in the spring. He will forgo the Ardennes classics and will focus on the trio of WorldTour stage race of which he is a former winner of the latter two (even though he has been stripped from his win in Catalonia).

Contador also took the time to participate in the unveiling of his junior and U23 teams that will include 28 young athletes. Having already had a junior squad in 2013, he has added a U23 division for the coming season.