After finishing 2nd in last year's edition, Rigoberto Uran will line up as team leader in a grand tour for the first time when the Giro d'Italia kicks off in May. The Colombian is ready for the challenge but admits that he will have more pressure on his shoulders in his new role.

Rigoberto Uran has finished his apprenticeship at Team Sky after several years of hard working for the likes of Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome. For the 2014 season, he has taken the brave decision to leave his well-known surroundings to take on the role of grand tour captain at Omega Pharma-Quick Step.

The Belgian team has long been known for its strength in the classics and the sprints but has usually failed to make an impact on the GCs in the grand tours. Eager to broaden its objectives, team manager Patrick Lefevere was looking for a rider to fill the gap and his eyes fell on Uran.

Uran finished 2nd in last year's Giro and the Italian grand tour will again be his major target in his first year with his new team. When he signed his contract, he was reported to focus on the Tour de France but with the team putting all their faith in Mark Cavendish and his quest to take the yellow jersey on the opening stage in his native Great Britain, the team has decided to let Uran return to Italy.

Uran had the chance to go for the GC in 2012 when he finished 7th in the Italian grand tour but never before has he had an entire team at his disposal. Cavendish has still not decided whether he will return to the race where he won the points jersey in 2013, and the team's focus is likely to be on their Colombian GC rider.

"I go with more pressure because everything will be more difficult," he told El Tiempo. "It is a big challenge that my role now changes as I will be the team leader at the Giro which will be my big goal in my debut season with Omega."

Uran refuses to speculate about what he may achieve in the most important race of his season.

"I will not speculate about anything, I am just happy with the challenge," he said. I know the Giro, I have been 2nd. I just need to be ready but to say that I will win is difficult at this time of the year.

"The Giro is a very tough race. I don't want to compare but the Giro is very different from the Tour, especially this year as in France there will be cobblestones and a longer time trial. If you have the legs, you will be in the front on such a course."

Uran will face compatriot Nairo Quintana (Movistar) in the Italian race but he refuses that there will be any kind of Colombian alliance.

"We are friends but in the races we will ride for ourselves," he said. "On the bikes we are rivals, off the bikes we are friends."

Uran will start his season in the Challenge Mallorca and will do the Tour of Oman, Tirreno-Adriatico and the Volta  a Catalunya in preparation of the Italian grand tour.