A few days ago Saxo Bank sports director Philippe Mauduit revealed that Alberto Contador will try to hit peak form for select stage races in the spring season as he prepares himself for his attempt to reclaim his Tour de France crown. In an interview with Marca, the double Tour de France winner draws up the first part of his schedule that is set to culminate with his participation in the Tour and the Vuelta.

Things didn't go as expected for Alberto Contador in 2013 when the Spaniard rode his first full season after returning from suspension for his positive clenbuterol test at the 2010 Tour de France. With a win in the 2012 Vuelta a Espana, he appeared to be on track to return to his former level but he never hit the kind of form that had seen him dominate the grand tours in past years.

Contador put all his focus on the Tour de France but only managed to finish 4th in the French grand tour and his attempt to make amends in the autumn didn't bring much success either. At the first Saxo-Tinkoff gathering in Gran Canaria, the multiple grand tour winner tried to figure out how he can return to his former level.

In past seasons, Contador has not only been the dominant grand tour rider, he has also had a habit of focussing on select stage races in the spring. He has won the Paris-Nice and the Tour of the Basque Country twice and was the winner of the 2011 Volta a Catalunya until that victory was taken away from him due to his positive test.

In 2013, he participated in major stage races like the Tirreno-Adriatico and the Vuelta al Pais Vasco and while he tried to win both, he had not prepared specifically for the events as he had done in the past. A few days ago, Contador's sports director Philippe Mauduit told L'Equipe that the Spaniard will try to go back to his former strategy of hitting peak form for select stage races in the sprint.

Mauduit refused to state explicitly which races Contador will target, claiming that the team needs to know about the routes before making a final decision. In an interview with Marca, Contador has, however, elaborated on his schedule, clearly indicating that he will have his traditional focus on the biggest stage races.

As had already been confirmed, Contador will start riding much later than he has done in the past two years where he rode the Tour de San Luis in January. The Volta ao Algarve in February will be his first race of the season while he will do either the Paris-Nice or the Tirreno-Adriatico in the first part of March before riding either the Volta a Catalunya or the Criterium International.

In April he will finish his spring season at the Vuelta al Pais Vasco. As already revealed by Mauduit, he will stay away from competition in late April and May as he is too hampered by allergy to perform at his best. In June, he will do his usual preparation in the Dauphiné before going on to the Tour. As he has already revealed, he will ride the Vuelta at the end of the season.

The major change is the fact that he won't do the Ardennes classics. In 2013, he made a last-minute decision to ride the Fleche Wallonne and the Liege-Bastogne-Liege but he did very little to make the public aware of his presence during the races. Next year he will forgo the races completely.

“I started to race very early, in Argentina,” he told Marca, “and after Tirreno, where the weather was really bad, I got sick and had to change all my programme. I scratched the Critérium International from the list and then went to the Vuelta al País Vasco without really being at a good level.

“It wasn’t the ideal programme, and I regret starting so soon and not really putting together a programme that balanced my training and my dealing with sponsorship obligations well," he added. "All that had an effect. The Ardennes Classics were an ‘extra’ that I didn’t need, I was tired and competing at a level that wasn’t good, my base condition wasn’t good. The Ardennes have never really worked for me when it comes to building up for the Tour.”

While Contador himself failed to live up to expectations, his team didn't disappoint. Riders like Michael Rogers and Roman Kreuziger - who finished 5th overall - provided excellent support in the Tour mountains while Daniele Bennati and Matteo Tosatto brought him safely through the flat stages.

“I have absolute faith in every single member in Saxo Bank,” he said, “You couldn’t have a better atmosphere in the team, and I have riders like Kreuziger, one of the best in the world, alongside me, Rogers, Roche, Bennati, an experienced rider like Tosatto. I really wouldn’t change them for anybody else.”

Contador was rumoured to be joining the Fernando Alonso team when the F1 driver was in negotiations to take over the Euskaltel license. The team will be turned into reality in 2015 but with a contract until 2015 already in place, the Saxo Bank rider states that he has no plans to change teams. However, he also claims that the end of his career is still a long way off.

Contador has already been training for a month after starting his preparation at his home in Lugano.