Thomas Löfkvist is feeling in peak condition ahead of the Tour de France and believes everything is now in place for Bradley Wiggins to mount a determined challenge for the yellow jersey.

Since his 12th-placed finish at last month's Tour de Suisse, Löfkvist has been back in his native Sweden resting up and recuperating to ensure he is ready for three of the toughest weeks on the cycling calendar.

This year will be the fifth time the 26-year-old has competed in the sport's highest-profile event so he is only too aware of what needs to be done to ensure he can aid Wiggins to the very best of his ability.

He told us: "I am very happy to make the team with this bunch of guys and I'm looking forward to it immensely. I think condition-wise I am as good as I can be as well. I was coming up to my best form at the Tour de Suisse and I felt I rode a good race. It was only on that final time trial where I felt I had a bit of a down day. Since then though I have been recovering well, so hopefully I will have improved even further now.

"I haven't been doing anything too hectic since the end of that race, just a lot of light training coupled with spending time relaxing with my girlfriend. I had the chance to ride the National Championships recently but decided against it to ensure I was properly ready for the Tour.

"It would have been nice to take part in that race and go for my national jersey, but I weighed up the pros and cons and decided it would be more beneficial if I didn't go. There would have been a lot of travel involved with going up to Sollerön so I decided to stay at home and prepare as much as possible.

"I think we are all arriving at the race very well prepared. There are a lot of thinkers in this team and from what I've seen and heard, everything is in place to create an environment which we can perform very well in."

Home comforts

And while many riders experience a certain degree of home sickness while they are encased in the Tour bubble, Löfkvist will have no such worries as his father and grandfather will on hand during what promises to be a hectic first week of competition.

He added: "Yes, they are going to be there for the opening stages, so that will be nice. They have both seen me compete in the Alps before, so they wanted to experience something new this time around. The prologue and the cobbled stage especially should be quite spectacular for them.

"It will encouraging to have then there, but I'm not going to get the chance to spend as much time with them as I'd like because it's just so busy. I should be able to say hi to them after the finishes though, and also on the telephone.

"Even when they leave, I hope I will still get a lot of texts and calls from friends and family in the evenings. The race is being broadcast on television back home so they will be able to keep up to date with what goes on there."

Amid all the chaos, a knowledge built up from four previous Tours will ensure Löfkvist has no problem staying focused on the job in hand, especially when it comes to the crunch mountains stages where he will be called upon to ensure Wiggins remains in the thick of the action:

"Focus will not be a problem for me. You learn something different from every Tour you do, and especially how to cope with the stresses of a three-week race like this. It's definitely beneficial to have ridden it four times before because I know exactly what to expect. That's definitely going to be an advantage for me and hopefully I will be able to pass some of that experience on to my team-mates.

"The Alps and Pyrenees are both looking to be really hard this year and what happens there will play a big role in the outcome of the race. I will be there for Bradley and if I have good legs I will try and stay with him for as long as I can and hopefully that will yield a fairly good GC result for me as well.

"I know I can do a good job for him and a good job for myself. Bradley is relatively new to the GC but I think he has adapted very well to that role and we have a strong and very competitive team to back him up. There are a lot of other strong teams here this year, but we are certainly up there with the best of them."