In the first half of the 2013 season, Edvald Boasson Hagen again put all his focus on the cobbled classics but as it has so often been the case, the talented Norwegian left the races in Northern Europe empty-handed. In 2014, the Sky rider plans to race a bit more to finally fulfil his potential in the biggest classics.

In the early part of the 2013 season, Team Sky attracted much attention due to their novel approach to the cobbled classics. Trying to replicate the strategy that had seen Bradley Wiggins dominate stage racing in 2012, the team decided to send its classics roster on a training camp at altitude in Tenerife instead of following the traditional preparation of riding the Paris-Nice or the Tirreno-Adriatico.

The change was one of the rare failures for the British team that did not play any major role in the classics. The team left the biggest races empty-handed and indicated at the time that a more traditional approach could be in store for the 2014 season.

One of the team's leaders for the cobbled classics was Edvald Boasson Hagen who has long been seen as a potential winner of the race in Flanders and Northern France. Despite his much success in a number of different races, the Norwegian has, however, been unable to live up to his promises in the cobbled races.

Boasson Hagen was one of the riders that failed to benefit from the novel Sky approach and in 2014 he wants to make a few key changes to his schedule. He wants to reduce his training amount to make room for more racing.

"There are not many changes compared to what I have done in recent years," he told Procycling.no. "Last year I tried to race less. This year I will try to race a bit more. The classics guys do almost the same races so we get to race a lot together.

"The focus is first and foremost on the Paris-Roubaix and that kind of races," he added.

In 2012 and 2013, Boasson Hagen started his season in the Tour Down Under but won't do so in 2014.

"I think it's nice to try something new," he said. "It [his first race] is unlikely to be Australia but one of the races in the beginning of February. It hasn't been decided completely yet.

"I think it is a long travel to Australia and actually you don't get to race that much," he told about his thoughts about the Tour Down Under. "I have done it twice now and now I want to do something different."

Boasson Hagen will have his race schedule confirmed on the Sky training camp in Mallorca in December where the Norwegian plans to stay until December 21. As things stand, he is likely to start his season in the Challenge Mallorca  and could do the Tour of Oman as he prepares for the Belgian opening weekend and the first two classics, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne. He is likely to do the Tirreno-Adriatico as his final preparation for his classics schedule that will include Milan-Sanremo, E3, Gent-Wevelgem, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.

Sky coach Kurt-Asle Arvesen admits that last year's gamble was not a 100% success.

"We always want to try new things," he told Procycling.no. "This year we will again change the schedule a bit. We will train a bit easier in December and have less travelling between the time zones for the riders who find it hard."

It is not completely ruled out that Boasson Hagen will find time for some altitude training at some point of the season.

"We can change the time of a potential training camp and it is possible that Edvald will skip some races," Arvesen said. "The final plan will be made next week."

In 2013 Boasson Hagen won four races: a stage in the Dauphiné, a stage and the overall in the Tour of Norway and his national time trial championships.