Joaquím Rodriguez (Katusha) does not rule himself out of contention for Tour de France victory although the Spaniard readily accedes that Chris Froome (Sky) is the favourite to wear the yellow jersey when the peloton hits the Champs-Élysées.

His participation in this year’s Tour de France marks only his second presence at the Grande Boucle after he finished 7th in 2010 but the 34-year-old is looking to stamp his mark on the French grand tour after finishing on the podium of both the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España last year.

“I’m not giving up on it [victory in the Tour de France],” Rodriguez told Spanish newspaper AS of his chances of Tour victory. “Last year I was second in the Giro and third in the Vuelta and I could have won both of them. I am a mature rider. I know it’s complicated but I won’t rule myself out before the race begins.”

His lack of Tour de France related experience is of little concern for Rodriquez who takes comfort in the fact that he will be facing the same opposition that he has faced on previous occasions. “In the end the rivals will be the same – Froome, Contador, Valverde,” he said. “Sure, the Tour is more stressful than any other race, but it’s the same for everyone.”

In 2011 and 2012 Rodriguez elected to try his luck at the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España but the relatively short amount of time trialling miles on this year’s Tour parcours, Rodriguez explained, convinced him to make a return to the Tour which includes two individual time trials on the route this year – the 33km test to Mont-Saint-Michel on stage 11 and the 32km stage to Chorges on the final Wednesday of the race.

“This year there aren’t long, flat time trials where you have to go at 55kph. The two time trials are shorter and hillier, especially the second one,” said Rodriguez, who is wary, though, that he must improve on his showing in the against the clock compared to his performance at the recent Critérium du Dauphiné, where, disastrously, he lost almost three minutes to Froome (Sky) in a 32.5km time trial. “That was fatal and there is no excuse. I was back to being the worst Purito in the time trial. The only consolation is that the terrain won’t be as flat at the Tour.”

Even though he was robbed of overall victory at the Giro by Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) in the final time trial last year, Rodriguez did make strides in the discipline in 2012 and he travelled to the Silverstone track earlier this year to work further on his time trialling position, albeit with mixed results. “I didn’t adapt to the new position, my body was too far forward. At the Tour, I’ll go back to my old position with some small changes,” he said.

Based on his first-hand knowledge acquired at the Critérium du Dauphiné, Rodriguez identifies Chris Froome from Team Sky as his main adversary and the man to beat in the high mountains.

“He’s the strongest by far and he has a great team. At the Dauphiné, at difficult times, there were always five or six teammates at his side. There will be several of us looking for them to fail – Contador, Valverde, Schleck, Van Den Broeck, Evans, me – but if it’s like the Dauphiné, then it will be very complicated.”