Philippe Gilbert has told PEZ Cycling that he won’t have too many changes to his calendar but he will put an emphasis on the Tour, with the stages being held in his native Belgium.

“It’s pretty much the same. I don’t know my full calendar, but I start in Dubai, next it’s Qatar the next day, so it’s going to be a big block for the first races, but that’s nice. I’ve never been to Dubai, but I’ve got friends living there and they tell me it’s a nice country. It will be good to visit.”

Being a rider from the Wallonia region, Gilbert wants to shine on the stages in his country and says the Tour de France route appeals to him, particularly the stage that finishes on the Mur de Huy.

“When I saw this at the Tour presentation, that was the first thing I was thinking; I would like to be there and having my chance in that nice final (on Huy). I’ve done the Tour six or seven times and it’s always a nice race.”

BMC have underwent big roster changes this offseason. Gone are experienced riders like Thor Hushovd, Samuel Sanchez and Cadel Evans and in come younger riders like Joey Rosskopf, Manuel Senni and Campbell Flakemore. The team also has some new experience in Alessandro De Marchi and Damiano Caruso. Gilbert says the team has less stars but more riders who are prepared to work their socks off for their leaders. But he does lament the loss of Sanchez, who still doesn’t have a team for this season.

“Now maybe we have less big names, but sometimes you get more from the riders the public don’t know who really give everything. They know they can’t win so they give everything; they are very good teammates and very good support. We will see, but I am confident. We have a lot of young guys also so they bring a new mentality, a new spirit, which is also nice.”

“We (Gilbert and Sanchez) did a lot of races together, it was always nice, we were always friendly, we were good on the bike, really relaxed and always there at the right moment. I always enjoyed the moment with Samu and I am thankful to him and he knows it, because we still have some contact. But it’s like this, cycling is not in the best position with financial problems and so on and we also have a lot of riders, we cannot have everyone in the same team.”

As always, Gilbert will focus on the Tour de France and the Ardennes Classics. But in 2015, he says he will race more in Italy. The Giro route suits him and he wants the Maglia Rosa. Recent course changes have also tipped Milan-Sanremo and Il Lombardia his way again once more.

“I would like to do well in Sanremo, now that they have fixed the parcours and it’s back on the old one, the one I like the most. It’s easier and because it’s easier we go faster, but then it’s harder because we go faster, so… When you have climbs everyone is scared of those climbs, they are all breaking. I remember one year we had twelve guys in the break away with nine minutes, they lost two guys and they had 100 K’s to go and still had six minutes or something. We really had to chase them full-gas, this made a big decision behind, a big difference in the bunch. But when they had this Le Mànie, it was too easy, because you just go fast on the climb and take five minutes back on the break away and then there were still three guys together and it’s even easier to come back on three guys. It’s hard to understand if you are not on the bike.”

While he isn’t riding the cobbled races in 2015, he says that he is considering leaving the Ardennes behind in the future to permanently ride on the Cobbles. Gilbert has won all three Ardennes Classics, even winning all three in one season, 2011.

“I think it’s good like this; do first all the explosive races, because to win Lombardy, Liege and Amstel you need a lot of explosivity in the legs and that’s one of the first things you lose with age and you don’t need this in Flanders, well less of this in Flanders and Roubaix. So maybe when I start losing this, I can go to those races and then I don’t know if I go again to the Ardennes. Like I said; if you go very hard in the cobbled races I don’t know if you can go again the next weekend in Amstel and then the next weekend in Liege. You can always do it, but I don’t know if you can do it for the win.”

Gilbert isn’t aware of exactly what the Worlds course is like, but he says if his national team coach tells him it can suit him, he will try to target that race too, although he will have plenty of competition from other riders for team leadership.

“I saw the graphic, but it’s different than seeing the real roads. The coach, Carlo Bomans, will go there, film it and he can tell me his opinion, also he knows what I like and he can tell me if it is for me or not and then I will know if I am going there with a lot of ambition or less ambition, so we see. For me the Worlds are always a big race and a big goal, so for sure I will go there with a nice training program before to be really good on the big day.”

Gilbert spoke on a number of current hot topics amongst cycling fans, such as the proposed changes in team sizes for 2017, where less riders would be on a team.

“I think if you have less riders in the team then a lot of riders will have to quit cycling, because you do this it doesn’t mean you will have more sponsors coming in. This will not change anything except that there will be a lot more people without work. So I don’t think it is a good change. And about the length of the races, I don’t know if this will change anything. Why should you shorten the Giro and the Vuelta and not the Tour de France, I don’t know, it’s a big subject.”

Gilbert has the best palamares of all current riders in the Ardennes and says while Amstel suits him best, winning three times there, he dreams of a second Liege-Bastogne-Liege title.

“I always have more success in Amstel, but my dream is more Liege, so if I can win in Liege it’s better for me. The years are never the same, maybe next year we will see a rider like Bardet win, there could be someone else who is flying at that moment of the season. It’s very hard to say in December who will be good in the last week of April." But Gilbert knows exactly why he is better at Amstel. "Because of the Cauberg of course. This is the climb I like the most from all over the World, so because of this, if the finish was still in Maastricht, like in 1995, I wouldn’t have won three Amstel’s. Now it’s always around the Cauberg so it’s easier for me.”

Gilbert has always been an attacker and wants younger riders to follow his lead more and he praises Sagan for his attacking, even if it doesn’t always pay off, rather than be like Valverde, who he says is always defensive.

“My way of racing, attacking. If people copy it that would be nice for the public. I like when riders go on the attack, try things. I was watching the Tour and I like the way Sagan was racing, he gets a lot of criticism because he attacks too much and maybe lost stages there, but that’s what people like; when you just go on the attack, it’s spectacular, this makes the racing interesting.”