In 2015, Nairo Quintana goes into his fourth season at the Movistar team where he will again share leadership with Alejandro Valverde. The Colombian will return to the Tour de France after his second place in the 2013 edition of the race and is showing more maturity after his win in this year's Giro d'Italia.

24-year-old Nario Quintana faces is upcoming challenge with confidence in his team and expects his challenges to require the utmost. His focus will be fully on the Tour de France where he got his big breakthrough in 2013.

"The expectations are very big and get bigger and bigger but I am prepared to grow," he told Biciciclismo. "Since I arrived at this team, this has been the main idea but things have come faster than expected. I had a good feeeling and after winning the Tour de l'Avenir i n 2010 and other races that I have won in the past, I knew that I good do great things.

"The element of surpris belongs to the past. Now I am one of the favourites like all the other riders that have won a grand tour. I can no longer hide anything. In the past, I coul attack and do whatever I wanted and nobody reacted. Now I have gained status and I can no longer do anything silly. I have to race very seriously because I have responsibility and a team to support me. I have to live up to it.

Quintana carries the weight of expectation of both his team and his country but he makes it clear that he has no trouble coping with the pressure.

"I handle the responsbility calmly. I try to do the right things and have a good team behind. That gives me confidence. I am absolutely not obsessed by anything."

In 2014, Nairo Quintana won the Giro d'Italia and went into the Vuelta a Espana as one of the big favourites. He got the race off to a great start and took the overall lead ahead of the time trial. Two crashes in a row, however, forced him to abandon the race but he refuses the suggestion that the incidents will have an impact on his racing in the future.

"It was a mistake and several factors that caused the crash," he said. "I am not afraid of the descents.

"Unfortunately, you are never prepared for things like that. You have to be prepared if it happens, and if it doesn't, it is fabulous. These are situations that you can't anticipate. It may affect you more if you are not prepared."

Quintana is not only known for his physical strength.

"Many times we have seen that the winner is not the one with the strongest legs but sometimes the smartest rider wins. That is exactly what happened in the Giro. I had some very bad moments but I had a very strong head. I always had the desire to win andit worked out well."

It is a general assessment that the course for the Tour de France suits Quintana perfectly. To reach the mountains, he needs to survive the cobbles though.

"It is a race that suits me well but I need to pass that hurdle," he said. "It is the same for everyone. The pavé stage is a stage where you have to be very careful and should be well prepared to prevent crashes and getting caught in a bad position. We are considering to do some race to prepare. My brother has told me something (Dayer Quintana did this year's Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix), but it is not the same. I need to see the cobbles myself."

Quintana hasn't finalized his schedule yet but he may start his 2015 in South American.

"I like [the Tour de] San Luis," he said. "It is important for all the American and Argentinean fans. It is a prode for them and I feel happy and flattered to be there. The national championships which will be held a bit earlier than usual, should be a possibility but I don't know if will have a training camp which could collide with the dates."

The road race at the 2016 Olympics are rumoured to be held on a very hilly course. Unsurprisingly, Quintana is inspired by the thought of going for gold so close to his home country.

"The idea is to prepare for that race in 2016," he said. "I want to do well in that race in 2015 and would be very proud to win. , the idea is to prepare a face to 2016. The 2016 racing career I wanted to do well, what more pride than to win. Federation has agreed to be more attentive and to strengthen the building of our nation."