For many years, Joaquim Rodriguez focused on the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana but in 2013 he deviated from his usual pattern to line up in the Tour de France. In 2014 the Katusha leader will again focus on the Italian and Spanish grand tours and also plan to perform well in the Ardennes classics.

In 2012 Joaquim Rodriguez finished on the podium in both grand tours he did when he was 2nd in the Giro d'Italia and 3rd in the Vuelta a Espana. With podium finishes in two of the three grand tours, he only lacked the Tour de France to complete the triple and when ASO announced a very mountainous course for the 2013 edition of the French grand tour, the Spaniard decided to put his entire focus on the world's biggest race.

He was do dedicated to the goal that he was even prepared to leave Katusha when the team was initially refused a ProTeam license and so couldn't guarantee their star rider a berth in the Tour. Those problems were ultimately solved and Rodriguez reached his objective when he finished 3rd in the French race.

With the set of grand tour podiums now complete, Rodriguez will now focus on his next objective: to finally win a grand tour. In 2013 he got close to that elusive victory in both the Giro and the Vuelta and at 34 years of age, he knows that he has limited time to get it.

The Giro and Tour courses have both been unveiled and both shape up to be really mountainous races. However, Rodriguez has chosen to go back to his well-known formula of the Giro-Vuelta double and will skip the Tour in 2014.

"With its sections from the Paris-Roubaix, the course for the Tour de France is not one for Purito," Katusha manager Viacheslav Ekimov told R-Sport. "It does not suit him at all and he doesn't plan to ride it. We will do the Vuelta and the Giro, with the aim of fighting for the top position on GC of course."

Ekimov also revealed that Rodriguez will again focus on the Ardennes classics before targeting the Giro. For years, the Spaniard has been one of the leading contenders in the hilly one-day races and has won the Fleche Wallonne and finished 2nd in both the Amstel Gold Race and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

The combination of the Ardennes and the Giro is a tricky one but Rodriguez has already proved that he masters both challenges in the same season. In between those two events, he will train in the Alps to prepare for the Italian grand tour.

With Rodriguez unavailable, Katusha has to set itself different goals in the Tour de France. In 2012 Denis Menchov lined up as a genuine podium candidate but had a disastrous race. In 2011 they lined up an all-Russian team that had no success at all during the three-week race.

The team knows that they won't have a winner candidate in their ranks and so Ekimov will have less focus on the GC in 2014.

"It is an opportunity for other riders," he said. "We will target stage wins and the green jersey with [Alexander] Kristoff and try to place well on GC. We have four candidates for a top 10 which would be a great result for the team."

Earlier this year Rodriguez extended his contract until the end of 2015. Nonetheless, he has been linked with the new Fernando Alonso team that will be created for the 2015 season.

Ekimov refuses that Rodriguez will jump the ship earlier than planned.

"He knows he has a contract and doesn't really consider it," he said. "I don't know where this issue comes from. Apparently, he and other riders were invited by Alonso to a motorsport circuit and maybe the journalists based the story on that."

Rodriguez will start his season in the Tour de San Luis in January.