Two days before the start of the Tour de France Dani Moreno exudes confidence in his Katusha leader Joaquím Rodriguez who, according to Moreno’s judgement, is stronger than ever.

Furthermore, Moreno vows that the Katusha team will seek out opportunities to disconcert Team Sky during the Tour in an attempt to break the stranglehold on the race that the British team held last year.

Over the past years, Moreno has been a deluxe domestique for Rodriguez and the latter repaid Moreno’s loyalty as the former won Flèche Wallonne in April. That win doesn’t mean that Moreno enters the Tour with any personal ambitions, though, and Moreno made it absolutely clear that the hierarchy at Katusha for the Tour remains unchallenged.

“I see that he [Rodriguez] is going stronger than ever. I believe in him,” Moreno told Spanish sports daily Marca. “When you see the start list, it’s a bit intimidating but we have a really great team and we can do things in all terrains. And everything is easier when you have a leader like ‘Purito.’ My aim is to help ‘Purito’ wear the yellow jersey,” he said.

Like his team leader, Moreno has only one Tour participation to his name, in 2010, when he finished 21st overall. At last year’s Vuelta a España, the 31-year-old finished 5th on general classification and thus demonstrated his endurance and established his credentials in a three weeks stage race.

Race favourite Chris Froome and his mighty Sky team, who have dominated stage racing over the past two seasons, will be the main stumbling blocks on the path to glory for Rodriguez, Moreno and the Katusha team.

Moreno and Rodriguez went up close and personal with Sky’s almighty collective power during the recent Critérium du Dauphiné, where Moreno finished third overall behind Froome and Richie Porte.

“Sky has been showing for some time that it’s a great team, maybe the best in the world,” Moreno said. “Froome’s form this year has been spectacular and, as he showed at the Dauphiné, he is one of the main favourites to take the win. We’ll have to be very wary of the British and search for opportunities to hurt them.”

In the absence of Giro d’Italia conqueror Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Froome’s teammate and potential rival-within, Bradley Wiggins, the greatest threat to Froome’s prospects looks set to come from Moreno’s compatriots, with Rodriguez, Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) leading the Spanish challenge.

“We’ve got a good group of Spanish riders,” Moreno agreed. “We all know who Alberto Contador is and what he can do at the Tour. If you have already won the race before, who is to say that you cannot win again?”