Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) has confirmed he will make his return to the peloton from the fractured leg which forced him out of the Tour de France at the Vuelta a Espana, where the Spaniard will go in search of a stage win.

Contador crashed out of the Tour de France on stage ten and, having initially touted the prospect of riding his home Grand Tour, then ruled himself out of the race, which starts in Jerez, Andalucia, on August 23.

However, the two-time Vuelta a Espana today used his Twitter page to announce he will line-up for Tinkoff-Saxo and will ride the race first to recover form and then to possibly target a stage win in the final week.

“I’ve been riding my bike during the last ten days and yesterday was the first day I could climb a mountain pass without knee pain,” said Contador in a video posted on his YouTube channel, which showed the 31-year-old’s left leg still heavily bandaged.

“And that excites me, motivates me and led me to take the decision that I will ride the Tour of Spain.

“I know it’s a Tour of Spain that I’ll have to take in a very different way than I had thought earlier in the season, or as I planned the Tour, but I think it can be very good for me thinking on the end of the season and either to start next season with guarantees, and perhaps in the last week I could be fighting for a stage win.

“Now I’ll try and do my best in this last week before the start. See you in Jerez.”