Alberto Contador has kicked off his 2015 season in the same top form he ended 2014 in, enjoying a great battle with Chris Froome at the Ruta del Sol.

Contador’s stunning, unanswerable acceleration on stage three earned him his first win of the season atop the Alto de Hazallanas but he had to settle for second overall when Froome exacted his revenge the following day.

Nevertheless, with the Giro d’Italia on the horizon, Contador, who aiming for the Giro-Tour double in 2015, will hope to be closer to top form than his rivals at Tirreno-Adriatico given the immediacy of his first big target for the season. Quintana and Nibali (and Froome) won’t take on the Giro, instead focuses their efforts 100 per cent on the Tour.

Contador stormed to Tirreno-Adriatico victory in 2014, with that win largely coming thanks to his performance on the super-steep Guardiagrele climb, and if El Pistolero can replicates that showing on the Terminillo this time out then he will be hard to stop again.

Backed by a Tinkoff-Saxo team which includes Ivan Basso and Roman Kreuziger, Contador will be supported by a fiercely strong team for the race – while we also get a taste of how they will go about chasing multiple jerseys with Peter Sagan also in the line-up.