Nacer Bouhanni was expected to fly in the season's opening stage races held in the Middle East after he had ended his dramatic relationship with Arnaud Demare at FDJ for Cofidis build exclusively around him, but his red lead-out train hasn't exactly resemled a TGV. Nonetheless, his new colleagues reveal that building team-spirit and trust gradually is more important for the French fast finisher than collecting victories right from the start and they will get their next chance to get things right in the Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne on Sunday.

“Nacer has the legs to win, but we are here to set up something as a team,” Bouhanni’s Canadian teammate Dominique Rollin told VeloNews in Oman last week.

“He’s willing to not go by himself in the final 2 kilometers of the sprint and to lose some races by trusting us, by making sure that we come along together first. If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”

Rollin, brought back from retirement, became a part of a new Cofidis train build in line with Bouhanni's wishes. He is joined in lead-out duties by Cyril Lemoine, Jonas Ahlstrand, Adrien Petit and 24-year old Frenchman's most trusted former FDJ team-mate Geoffrey Soupe.

Rollin agreed that things didn't go as they planned in the Middle east, but Bouhanni showed great confidence in team by consequently sticking to their initial plan instead of chasing luck on his own, which motivated them.

“We still have some minor glitches to work out, but it’s a new team. A couple of guys have never done the leadout and I’m coming back,” Rollin said.

“It shows a great amount of confidence with what he’s trying to set up, by not doing his own thing and sticking without our leadout.

“It’ll pay off because he’ll be used to our work in the big races. That’s why we raced [Qatar and Oman] because it’s a good place to work and there’s some hard racing.”

The first chance for their efforts to pay off will arrive on Sunday, when Cofidis will line-up at the start of Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne.