Alberto Contador is one of the big favorites for the next edition of the Giro d'Italia with Rigoberto Uran (Etixx-Quick Step), Fabio Aru (Astana Pro Team) and Richie Porte (Team Sky). According to Spanish medias, the Tinkoff-Saxo leader thinks that the stage 16 will be the most important.

"I’d be happy with taking it on the last day. Better than having it for two weeks straight. This Giro is very different to 2011, firstly because of the way I’m planning on tackling it. In terms of the route, there are a lot of mountains, but not so much at the ends of stages. There won’t be out-and-out mountain stages until after stage 14", El Pistolero explained to Marca. "The key to the Giro will be the Mortirolo. For me it’s the key stage, with the Aprica, Tonale, Mortirolo and Aprica again."

With his staff, he recognized the individual time trial. "I went to see the time trial. I thought its climbs would be harder. To give you an idea, I spent about one kilometre out of the saddle. The rest is all in the saddle, because it’s not at all technical. It’ll be an hour of continuous effort at very high intensity."

This saturday, he will be back to the competition after one month during he trained very hard to be able to do the Giro-Tour de France double. "We’ve given the screw one last turn in terms of hours and climbing. I’m ready for the challenge."