At 37years of age, Samuel Sanchez is ready for his fifth Tour de France where he will be a domestique for Tejay van Garderen in his quest to finish on the podium in Paris. The Spaniard returns after a two-year absence.

The French race has been a happy hunting ground for Sanchez who was sixth in 2008, second in 2010 after the disqualification of Contador and Menchov and fifth in 2011 in an edition where he won a stage to Luz Ardiden and the mountains jersey. In 2012, he was forced to withdraw after a crash

The first objective of the BMC Racing Team is clear. 

"We will try to do a good GC with Tejay can Garderen. This year there is no long individual time trial which is his forte, but he has worked hard in mountains and is ready to finish as high as possible ", he said two days ago at the presentation of his book" Samuel, the golden rider".

However, Sanchez hopes to have his chance. 

"They told me that I have to work in the Tour and then I will have my chance in Clasica San Sebastian and the Vuelta but the Tour is a race that always evolves and everything can change. You can see that van Garderen will do a good job in the GC but we also target a stage win and they know that I will be ready to take my chance. I know it's very difficult because there are 21 stages and if you take a statisitcal approach only twelve or thirteen riders will win one of them. To be among them is very difficult, but I already did it once so I can do it again," he said according to Ciclismo en Asturias.

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And the American team also targets at the team time trial in the ninth stage. 

"We won win the team time trial in the Dauphiné and we want to win it in the Tour too but we know it will be difficult because it is a very complicated course in which there are climbs. It is a team time trial in which a strong rider can destroy the team," he noted.