Tyler Smith insists he is capable of reaching the podium as he prepares to compete in the Europe Triathlon Cup tomorrow.

Smith is ranked eleventh of the 69 entrants for the race, which consists of a 750 metres swim, a 5.2 kilometre bike ride and a 10km run, but is expecting to outperform that number in Ceuta, an autonomous city of Spain situated on the North African coast.

But with that expectation comes extra pressure to perform on the day, but Smith is confident he can handle that.

“In triathlon it’s always fun to try to beat your start number and that means you’re progressing, but my expectation for this race is certainly to be in the top ten and the goal is really to get myself on the podium,” Smith said.

“That’s a little different, because at a race like a World Cup or even above, you're just in the race, everything is happening around you and you’re sometimes just a passenger, because everyone's really strong and you're just trying to get your best result on the day.

“But in this race I know I'll be one of the stronger guys on the start list, so then it’s on you to be dictating how the race plays out, whether or not a group can stay away on the bike, whether or not it can get split up in the swim, and that brings a different type of pressure and a different type of mindset.

“That is cool because you're not just trying to sneak in the top 15, you're going there with lofty ambitions, and that always brings another level out of yourself, so I’m looking forward to testing myself and seeing what I can do, seeing how I can shape the race to my strengths.”

Being one of the key contenders means Smith, winner of the Bermuda Half-Marathon Derby this year, is concentrating on tactics more than he would in some other events.

“The tactic is always going to be swim hard and try to come out in the top ten guys,” Smith said.

“From there, one of my strengths is always the first stages of the bike ride where, hopefully, there are some guys on the back foot and we can try to establish a bit of a break and put some distance between us and the chasers.

“There are a lot of young Spanish guys in the race, a lot of fast under-23s, so it's going to be one of those races where you just try to whittle it down to a select group before the run. But even if it’s ten to 15 guys, I’m really backing my run form right now and believe that however the race shapes up, I have an answer for it.

“The ideal scenario would be obviously a smaller lead group and then just making it a hard, honest race.”

Smith’s positive outlook comes from the confidence he gained from a recent stint at altitude and some top results achieved from his training partners at the recent world championships.

“I’ve just come down from an altitude camp at Font-Romeu in the Pyrenees in France. I was there for the last six weeks and we did a big training block up there and I feel really fit,” Smith said.

“I can take some confidence that one of the guys in our training group became world champion last week and other people had good results at the world championships.

“I’ve been doing the same training over that six weeks, which means I should be in good shape. I feel like I’m seeing a really big improvement, and I’m looking forward to getting a good race in and seeing just where I’m at.”