With the first Grand Tour of the year looming large Richie Porte insists he is ready to compete for the victory.

The Tasmanian is riding a wave of momentum following his best ever start to a season but will face stiff opposition in Italy from not only his rivals, but a gruelling route across the three weeks.

With a strong Team Sky squad behind him, the 30 year old sat down ahead of the Giro to give his thoughts on the race, his chances and what makes the event so special.

"This has been my main goal since the end of last season – to fight for the pink jersey," he told TeamSky.com. "This year’s been really good – I started well with my national time trial win, took a stage at the Tour Down Under, and I’ve got nine victories to my name so far this season. Winning races like Paris-Nice and the Volta a Catalunya was fantastic, but the Giro d’Italia has always been the big one for me, and it’s the race I really want to win.

"There have been plenty of different lifestyle things, like I’ve really worked on my diet this year, and I’ve been fortunate enough to have not got ill so far, which obviously helps a lot. My bike position is another thing we’ve spent a lot of time on as a team, and all those one percent gains do all add up. I’m as confident as I’ve ever been going into the Giro, or any Grand Tour for that matter.

"I’m as lean as I’ve ever been but I’m climbing as well as I ever have done and still going good in the time trials. Hopefully, all I need is a little bit of luck and we’ll have to see what happens.

"It’s always stressful during the first week, especially when it’s relatively flat like we have this time around. That’s when you often see crashes. The second week is about not losing too much time, and then the third week is a totally different beast from the first two. That’s where the race will be won. There’s some huge mountain passes and we’ll obviously be racing a lot at altitude there. Competing at over 2,000 metres is absolute agony but I’ve grown used to that. I’m looking forward to the time trial though. It’s a long one at 59km and that should suit me. Overall, this year’s route is definitely a hard one but hopefully I’ll do OK.

"Alberto [Contador] has won everything there is to win and he’s the big favourite here. In many respects it’s his race to lose. He’ll know that, and have the pressure that comes with that, and Tinkoff-Saxo will take it on for him.

"Rigoberto [Uran] is another. I know him well from his time with Team Sky and he’s been second here in the last two years. He’s always getting better as a bike rider and he’ll certainly be one to watch.

"Then there’s Fabio [Aru]. He’s the next big Italian hope and looking to impress in his home race. He’ll be very hard to beat.

"Finally, Domenico Pozzovivo deserves a mention. He often gets overlooked and has definitely flown under the radar recently. He’s a really strong rider and he looked good when he took off and won a stage in Catalunya. He could do something as well.

"We all know each other’s strengths and weaknesses so it should be a really exciting race.

"I haven’t had any pressure put on me by the team, it’s only the pressure I’ve put on myself. If I can keep doing here what I’ve been doing all season then I should be pretty close coming into those last stages. I’m confident with where I’m at, really motivated, and can’t wait to get going now.

"People talk about the Tour de France being the biggest race in the world, but in Italy this is the one. The atmosphere’s a little more relaxed than the Tour de France, but just as hard – if not harder – when you’re out there on the road. It’s a fantastic race. I live in Monte Carlo but I ride into Italy as much as I can. The scenery is stunning and it feels like my second home."