Bjarne Riis is going into the Tour de France with the hope of guiding Alberto Contador to the overall victory in the race. The Tinkoff-Saxo manager expects the race to get hard already in the Vosges and confirms that there will be no room for chasing personal success for the 8 riders that will support Contador in the race.

In 2008 Bjarne Riis won his only Tour de France as team manager when Carlos Sastre stepped onto the podium in Paris with the yellow jersey on his shoulders (Andy Schleck has later been promoted to winner of the 2010 edition of the race due to Alberto Contador's clembuterol case). This year he goes into the race hoping to repeat that feat with a reinvigorated Alberto Contador who seems to be back to his best after a disappointing season.

Riis will be leading the team with sports director Philippe Mauduit and has a clear pre-race plan in place. However, he refuses to go into details about the timing of the team's attacks.

"This year there are many [stages] that offer opportunities," he told CyclingQuotes in Leeds. "Of course we have picked certain stages but I won't tell you about my thoughts.

"Of course the Pyrenees will be really hard but I think it will be extremely tough already from the Vosges and then it will continue all the way to the end."

Most GC riders fear stage 5 that goes over the Paris-Roubaix cobbles. However, Riis doesn't expect that stage to be decisive.

"It will be an exciting and crazy stage, no doubt," he said. "But I don't know whether it will be decisive. I don't think so."

In the Giro d'Italia, Michael Rogers won two stages despite working for Rafal Majka but there will be no room for that kind of opportunities in the Tour.

"There are no free roles," Riis said. "That's clear. It's all for Contador all the way from start to finish."