Joaquim Rodriguez will be sent to the Tour de France to target stage wins but he has revealed in an interview with Cyclingnews that it is “taking him longer than he would like” to find his best form in time for the race.

“I’ll be okay for the Tour," Rodriguez told Cyclingnews. "But whilst the injuries I got at the Giro are completely cured now, the healing process took a long time, my form is really uneven as a result and we’ll have to see how I get on when I get to
the race.”

“It’s not going to be straightforward, but my objectives remain the same: support the team leader, and a strong ride in the mountains. I’m going to be building towards the Vuelta, as well, because that is and was my main objective of the second half of the 2014 season. I want to be at 100%. With so many climbs on the route this year it should suit me well.”

“However I don’t want to go to the Tour simply to get the kilometres in my legs. I wouldn’t like that at all, I want to go there to achieve something.”

Rodriguez is one of the most prolific and consistent riders in the peloton but has endured a rough 2014. He won the Volta a Catalunya but crashed in both Amstel Gold, jeopardizing his Ardennes Classics, and in the Giro, where he lost potentially his best ever chance of finally winning a Grand Tour.

Rodriguez may take part in the Spanish Championships on June 29 in a last ditch bid to find form but after that, he will need to fend for himself and hope he comes good during the three week race. As for the GC, he will not take part in the battle but has put forward his opinions on how the GC rivals are doing up till now:

“It’s always good to get these wins in, and when you do well it’s great for your morale. But you can’t read too much into results at the Dauphine if you want to predict how the Tour de France will go. It all depends on what your own targets have been there.”

“If I was Alberto Contador, for example, after what I did in the Dauphine I would be extremely happy going into the Tour.”

“Van Garderen didn’t do brilliantly but we should remember that he’s come back from a long spell off the bike and he was building his form there. So his targets in the Dauphine were different to other riders.”

As for whom he would place a hypothetical 100 euro bet on for winning the Tour, Rodriguez said: “I’d put 33 euros each on Nibali, Contador and Froome. I think it’s going to be a very open race until at least the second week.”