Doesn't matter an opinion about his personality, everyone knows that when Bradley Wiggins sets something as his objective, he achieves it rather sooner than later. Fabian Cancellara also acknowledges this simple fact and thus expects the 34-year old Briton to be one of the main contenders in his last appearance in Team Sky outfit at Paris-Roubaix.

Most classics specialists, including Cancellara himself, played down Wiggins' chances when he named the Hell of the North one of his main objectives last season, but Team Sky rider once again proved that he is one of the most versatile cyclists of last decades, finishing the race inside the top 10.

As the 34-year old Briton rode only two Flemish one-day races as a build-up towards la Doyenne in 2014 and has been speaking about returning to the event since then, the Swiss classics specialist expects him to be even stronger on the cobbles in Northern France this time around.

“What Bradley will do, nobody knows,” he said, according to VeloNews. “We know he’s going to go for Roubaix but he can also be competitive at the Tour of Flanders.

“We know that when Bradley focuses on things he normally will achieve it somehow. Of course he will be one of the contenders that people should talk about.

“He did not just talk about it last year, he made it a really serious effort [to win in Roubaix]. He prepared for it last year and he came pretty close and impressed a lot of people.

“Of course Roubaix is a special race but Bradley is a serious contender.”

Cancellara was the first rider who revealed ambitions to attempt breaking the Hour Record, but while a change of rules implemented by the UCI encouraged many other contenders, the 33-year old Swiss gave up on this idea.

The classics specialist admitted, though, that a sudden interest which arose around the Hour Record should have a positive influence on track cycling. He also pointed out to Wiggins as the one whose record might not be broken for a long time.

“I started the talk about the Hour Record and suddenly it gets changed in a way that means I don’t have the same motivation,” he told VeloNews. “In the current situation everyone is trying to do it and that’s good for the track cycling.

“At the moment I’m focused on other things than who is doing the hour record or where they are doing it. The last thing I wanted to do was make a one-hour show and at the moment it looks like everyone wants to make it into a show and that makes me feel sad about the past. I look at who held the record in the past and then their attempts suddenly get [erased].

“I think when Bradley Wiggins does his attempt the record will stay for a long, long time because he is a master on the track.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do [about the Hour], but I know I will be going for the classics and I will be ready for them.”