Today Alberto Contador will start to climb the Kilimanjaro with the aim of reaching the summit on Wednesday. The Spaniard is gathered with his Tinkoff-Saxo team for this very special team camp and from Tanzania he confirms that his two main objectives for 2015 are the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France.

Next year Alberto Contador has set himself the goal of making the double by winning both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France, a feat that hasn't been accomplished since Marco Pantani in 1998. His boss Oleg Tinkov has invited him, Chris Froome, Vincenzo Nibali and Nairo Quintana to do all three grand tours but for now, he plans to skip the Vuelta a Espana.

"In principle, my plan is to do the Giro and the Tour. I think that is enough of a challenge and will require lots of efforts," he said last night in the radio programme "El Parido de las 12" on Cadena Cope, 4000m above sea level in the Kilimanjaro National Park. "I know that I could have had more certainties by only doing the Tour but the Giro excites me and iit s a race that I love. We'll see what I can do."

Contador, on the other hand, has had the opportunity to meet his new teammates, including Peter Sagan who will join Bjarne Riis' team for 2015.

"I have a great relationship with him and I'm happy to be in the same team with him. He supported us and excites me and motivates me to be in the team, "he said.

With respect to the climbing of Kilimanjaro, Contador admitted that Riis' preparation camps are "a bit special" but they serve "to make the team bond." 

"Here we're disconnected from the world, in a tent with hot water, coffee and chocolate to keep warm," he said.

Tinkoff-Saxo will begin the final ascent to Kilimanjaro today to try to reach the summit on Wednesday morning. 

"I should not have much difficulty. We are having very bad luck with the weather. It has rained a lot every day and the temperatures are quite low," he told Cadena Cope.

The plan is to climb to 4,800 meters, sleep for three hours and then climb another 1,100 metres to complete the first challenge of the season.