After a disappointing first year at Ag2r-La Mondiale, Damien Gaudin will return to the track in the winter season. The Frenchman hopes to earn selection for the World Championships which will take place in his home country of France.

Damien Gaudin will return to his roots. These days the Ag2r rider is training on the track to prepare for the road season and with the aim of participating in the World Championships on the track at Saint-Quentin in February

"I was in contact with the staff of the national team," he told L'Equipe. "Since the team was not selected for Qatar and Oman, I would have had a rather easy early season. I wanted to prove myself."

Gaudin is a multiple national champion in the individual pursuit which is no longer on the Olympic programme. He will do some races during the winter to score enough points to qualify for the championships. He won't rule out the possibility of doing the team pursuit at the 2016 Rio Olympics after he was part of the French team that finished fifth in Beijing in 2008.

On the road, Gaudin is again expected to focus on the cobbled classics, mainly Paris-Roubaix in which he finished 5th in 2013.