Joaquim Rodriguez targets 2015 Tour de France after admitting mountainous route is ideal for him
Friday 14 November 2014 13:53, UK
Joaquim Rodriguez will aim to ride next year’s Tour de France after admitting the route is almost made for him.
The 35-year-old Spanish climber has finished on the podium in all three Grand Tours but is still searching for his first win having been persistently undermined by his weakness in time trials.
However, the 2015 Tour route contains only 14km of individual time-trialling and a 28km team time trial, favouring instead pure climbers such as Rodriguez with five summit finishes over seven mountain stages.
“I like it [the Tour route] very much, but it is very dangerous,” he told the Spanish newspaper AS. “If nothing happens to me, I will be there.
'Tour for climbers'
“It will be a Tour for climbers. I could not have organised it better myself, because it is hard and has little time-trialling. I think they have done me a favour and I will race.”
Rodriguez finished third behind Chris Froome and Nairo Quintana at the 2013 Tour but used this year’s edition as training for the Vuelta a Espana, ending the race well down the general classification in 54th.
He had been planning to skip the Tour to ride the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta in 2015, but with the Tour light on time-trialling and the Giro containing a 59km individual time trial, he has now changed his priorities.
“I had thought to do the Giro and Vuelta, but with a Tour route like this, I could end up doing the Tour and Vuelta,” he added.
