Antón sets surprising season goal

Igor Antón's goal of the first part of the season will not be the Vuelta al País Vasco, the Ardennes Classics or Paris-Nice. Instead, the diminutive climber will aim for the Volta a Catalunya.

Team manager Igor González de Galdeano broke the news in today's edition of El Correo. The soon-to-be 30-year-old flattered to deceive in 2012, and changes are aloft for the upcoming campaign.

"Instead of making a plan for the whole year, I've decided to set him goals", Galdeano said. "The first goal has to be the Volta, where he has to be in top shape.

"We'll go step by step. We're only in January, but by March he'll have to be at a 100 percent to dispute the Volta. After that we'll see what we'll do".

While the Galdakano-born escalador is likely to again focus his attention on the Vuelta at the end of the season, the Tour de France is interestingly not out of the question.

"Mikel Nieve's first part of the season will conclude at the Tour de Romandie. After that he'll gear up for the Tour, where also Antón might be", he said.

An appearance at the Grand Boucle would only be his third outing at the race, having abandoned on stage 11 of the 2007 edition and finished a low-key 66th two years later.