After performing well in the Giro d’Italia and currently having another solid ride at the Dauphine, Ryder Hesjedal is now going to target the Vuelta a Espana. He will rest after the Dauphine and then build up to the Spanish Grand Tour, where he is a previous stage winner.

“I’ve felt good since coming out of the Giro and I felt like I was on top of things coming out of the race. I’m interested to see how this race goes but after this I’ll take a break,” Hesjedal told Cyclingnews at the Dauphiné.

“No one really does Giro, Dauphiné, and then the Tour. We made that plan a while back and then I’ll focus on the end of the year after a break. I’d like to take a run at the Vuelta. It’s something new and the plan was always to have a traditional two-part season. We made the call to do that and I’m looking forward to it.”

Garmin’s Tour team is centered around talented American Andrew Talansky so Hesjedal will skip the Tour de France and will most likely ride the Tour of Poland to build up towards the Vuelta.

“I’ll start, probably, with Poland, another race I’ve never done. I like to keep things new and I’ll take a run at that,” he said.

“I’m happy to take the opportunities with this programme. I’ll take the break and then see what I can do in the second half of the year.”