Alberto Contador has set himself a big goal for the 2015 season as he wants to win the Giro-Tour double. According to Bjarne Riis, he is inspired by the chance to make history.

In December, the Canary Islands is not only a refuge for people seeking the cheapest alcohol. The place is also the perfect place for riders to train in springlike conditions. These days several riders are heading out on long rides in big groups, surrounded by coaches , biomechanical experts, nutritionists and directors. In one of the hotels, Bjarne Riis has gathered what he calls "the dream team" of cycling. "We are 80 people of whom 30 are riders," the Dane tells El Pais. "We have six coaches and a host of staff that do their maximum to take care of the riders."

The official name of the team is Tinkoff-Saxo and its leader is again Alberto Contador. In 2015, he wants to win both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France which has until now been seen as an almost impossible task. "Of course Alberto knows that but he has just as much ambition as he has strength and skills," Riis says. "It's normal for him to have the ambition to win both. He wants to create history and that is not always to do the same. It will give an advantage to his rivals, which is a risk but I see no problems in that gamle. If Alberto manages to win both, will be even more beautiful."

Interestingly, Contador and Riis use the same words to describe their internal relationship. Both speak of a special feeling, respect, no jealousy and that they understand each other just by looking at each other.

"Maybe it's because I have won the Tour but I have always had a good relationship with all my champions, with Sastre, with Schleck. I have always had that but each of them has his own personality," says Riis. "They are very different. You can't compare Sastre and Contador. It's impossible. Alberto is at another level and is another type but both have the same basis of stubbornness and seriousness. Not that Carlos is not a strong rider. He is a strong rider, right? He won the Tour..."

"I'm sure that this team could not be better," Contador tells El Pais. "All the riders have a relationship based on respect but we also joke and have a lot of fun. We had fun seeing Peter Sagan doing wheelies without hands and it motivates me to see that a rider like Ivan Basso will work for me. And I will stille work with Bjarne so we will have to talk together. I know how important I am for the sponsors and he knows how important it is to sometime give me some time on my own. We live 800 meters from each other, in Lugano (Switzerland), yet it happens that we don't talk to each other for two weeks. However, we have full confidence in each other. He recognizes the effort I make, not just the results."

For Contador who recently turned 32 years old, it is natural to take on such a big challenge and be the leader of a big group. For the rider who is often described as the best in the world, the role suits his nature. "I have always been an outspoken person," he says and recalls how he told Manolo Saiz what he wanted to eat at the Vuelta a Mallorca when he was just a 20-year-old neo-pro. He also recalls how he wanted to show who was the strongest when he attended the first training camp with Lance Armstrong and so was first at the top of the training climbs.

"But that can not be done now. Now this is very detailed and specific with watts. Each has zones from Z1 to Z5 and a threshold. Earlier those words were like Chinese but now they are common. And the new coaches will determine the area where you have to train. There is a certain number of watts that you have to stay below and you need to respect that," Contador said. "My power allows me to reach the finish before the others but it is not like a few years ago when the group training was like a race."

According to new coach Patxi Vila, Contador's second zone corresponds to the fifth and maximal zone for other riders which says a lot about his quality. However, very few in the team know the real values of his weight and watts. While other riders send their data to all coaches on a daily basis, he only sends them to his personal coach Steven De Jongh.

Alongside Vila, Daniel Healey, Bobby Julich and Sean Yates have joined the staff. De Jongh and Julich both had to leave Sky due to their zero-tolerance policy to doping but Riis has another approach.

"There is no reason to copy Sky's model. We are creating our own system. Obviously we've seen what they have done, but we will follow our own philosophy. I have known the persons who have arrived from Sky, for many years. That [doping] belongs to the past. It is not important if they do their job with the right. And if they do, I have nothing to complain about," says Riis, who has confessed to using Epo when he won the Tour de France in 1996.

"We all know what happened in the 90s. If I was a rider now, I would live as they do. I was riding in the 80s and 90s and did what you did then. That's how it is."