In an interview with the Spanish sports paper AS, Movistar ace Alejandro Valverde has stated that an overall win at the Tour de France continues to be a dream he is pursuing even though he conceded that a podium finish might be the peak of his ambitions given his age.

At 32 Valverde returned to the Tour last year after missing out on the race in 2010 and 2011 as he served a suspension for his links to blood doping doctor Eufemiano Fuentes. Valverde was never in contention for overall victory at his comeback Tour last year but could take some consolation from his win on the final Pyrenean stage to Peyragudes. Eventually Valverde finished an anonymous 20th on the general classification in 2012.

“It will always be a dream and you always have to try but I’m not so young and I know how hard it is,” Valverde told AS. “The thing is, I think I’m better now. I’m not under any illusions but I will be there with more options than before and I think I’m better than ever.”

At the 2012 Tour Valverde, like all climbers in the field, suffered from the almost 100 kilometres of time trialling that the organisers had squeezed into the itinerary and was buoyant about his chances of curbing his losses in the two short time trials at this year’s Tour, despite recently losing more than two minutes to Chris Froome (Sky) in a similar test at the Critérium du Dauphiné.

“Fortunately the time trials in the Tour aren’t as flat as the one at the Dauphiné. The second one is really very hard and I’ll be able to defend myself much better,” said Valverde.

Valverde refused to rule out a possible win for compatriot Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff) although conceding that Froome is the logical favourite based on his utter domination and awe-inspiring displays throughout the season.

“If Contador’s at 100 percent, he’s able to beat him,” he said. With Wiggins, maybe there would have been a bit of rivalry between the two of them within the team. But since he’s not there, they’ve been saved from that problem,” Valverde added.