Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) feels confident that he has done everything possible to prepare for his second ever participation in the Tour de France, hoping to have reached the same level he had at last year's Giro. If that is the case, he will be satisfied with whatever result that condition will bring him.

Joaquin Rodriguez has mostly targeted the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana so far as the steep, irregular climbs in the Italy and Spain are much better suited to his characteristics than the long, gradual ascents in France. Only once has he lined up at the Tour, in 2010 where he finished 7th and took a stage win ahead of Alberto Contador in Mende.

This year's mountainous course has seen the tiny Spaniard put all his emphasis on the Tour, skipping most of his usual spring schedule to arrive fully prepared for Saturday's start on Corsica. He fine-tuned his build-up at the Dauphiné where he - as he has done it before in preparation races - put his services at the side of teammate Daniel Moreno.

Last year he finished on both the Giro and Vuelta podium and emerged as the strongest climber in his home grand tour. He now targets the only grand tour podium which has so far eluded him: the one on the Champs-Elysees in Paris.

Asked if that goal is unrealistic, he is adamant that he has what it takes to also contend for the top 3 in the world's biggest bike race.

"Not at all," he said. "We have prepared ourselves to do a great Tour as we did in the Giro and the Vuelta, so I expect to be at the same level. I arrive in a very good condition and look forward to the start. The desire to finish the race will arrive later."

Having experienced the stress of the Tour, he knows that the magnitude of the event makes the Tour much more difficult to handle.

"It's different in many factors," he said of the Tour. "The name, the stress… People know that being seen in the Tour change your sportive career. It's the most followed by all public, sponsors, etc."

Rodriguez was at his best in last year's Giro where he was only narrowly defeated by Ryder Hesjedal, even losing the yellow jersey in the final time trial. The tiny climber hopes to reach that same level as that will show exactly what he is capable of at the world's biggest race.

"That's my hundred percent so I expect I have achieved it," he said. "If I can't win or get the podium  with that level, I'll have to be satisfied with the position I'll get."

Most pundits have pointed to Chris Froome, Alberto Contador, Alejandro Valverde and Rodriguez as the four main favourites for this year's edition of La Grand Boucle. That quartet also went head-to-head at last year's Vuelta, with Contador coming out on top ahead of Valverde, Rodriguez and a visibly fatigued Froome.

Since then Froome has taken over as the best stage racer in the world during the early part of the season and is eager to take revenge over the Spanish trio. However, Rodriguez refuses to write the race down to just a four-man battle, listing a string of names that all finished in the top 5 in previous editions of the Tour.

"Well, unfortunately they (Contador, Froome and Valverde, ed. are not the only ones," he said.  "There will be many more. Van den Broeck, Van Garderen, Evans, Andy Schleck..."

Before Rodriguez gets to his favoured terrain in the mountains, he will have to survive a tricky opening week with plenty of stress and nervousness. The race starts on Saturday with a flat stage in Corsica.