In the aftermath of the Tour de France, Joaquím Rodriguez met with the press to reflect upon his performance in La Grande Boucle and discuss his race itinerary for the remainder of the season.

Starting the Tour as one of the outsiders for the overall win, Rodriguez experienced a troublesome and crash-marred opening week which, in his own judgement, left him below par for the Pyrenean stages. As a consequence, Rodriguez was nowhere to be seen as Chris Froome (Sky) crushed the opposition on the stage to Ax 3 Domaines and subsequently clung on to his lead in solitude as his Sky team crumbled on the next day.

“The opening was a complicated affair for me as a result of my crash,” Rodriguez explained according to Tuttobiciweb.it. “It was a pity for my form was actually rather good at the time.”

The Mont Ventoux stage saw Rodriguez resurface to take 4th at the summit finish on the Giant of Provence, and as the race entered its decisive stages in the Alps, Rodriguez completed his resurrection.

“Things went a lot better in the Alps. Without my initial problems I feel confident that I would have been able to contend for the runner-up spot and a stage win,” Rodriguez explained.

The Spanish climber also explained that he preferred the atmosphere at the Giro d’Italia or the Vuelta a España to that of the Tour de France.

“I can confirm that I prefer the Giro or the Vuelta rather than the Tour. Standing on the podium in Paris on Sunday, I experienced a rather cold atmosphere. In Milan or Madrid it was more familiar.”

When quizzed about his plans for the rest of the season, Rodriguez said he would ride both the Vuelta and the Worlds, giving priority to the latter.

“For now I just want to recuperate after the Tour,” explained the Katusha leader. “Subsequently I will do some high altitude training to prepare for the Vuelta, which should be a very tough race with thirteen uphill finishes and the presence of great riders such as Nibali, Valverde, Basso and, I believe, Contador. For me, though, the world road championship is more important than the Vuelta. I consider myself as Classics or one-day rider. Those are the challenges I prefer.”

Whether or not Rodriguez, who has finished on the podium in his last three grand tours (Giro and Vuelta 2012 and Tour 2013), really wants to sacrifice the grand tour in his native country on a parcours that seems tailor-made for him remains to be seen.