Mathew Hayman has left Sky to join the Orica-GreenEDGE team from his native Australia and the classics veteran is ready for a mentorship role in his new squad. With the loss of Sebastian Langeveld, however, his new team has less classics riders than his previous one, meaning that there may be more personal opportunities for Hayman in 2014.

Mathew Hayman is one of those riders that have gladly put their experience and power at the service of others instead of chasing personal success in the biggest races. However, a number of strong showings in the hardest cobbled races have left many wondering what the Australian would be capable of if he could play his own cards.

In 2014 We may get the chance to find out exactly what Hayman can do on his own. After several years riding in service of riders like Edvald Boasson Hagen, Geraint Thomas, Juan Antonio Flecha, and Bernhard Eisel at Sky, the 35-year-old has left the British team to return to his native Australia for a stint at Orica-GreenEDGE.

Since its first season in 2012, Orica-GreenEDGE has played more focus on one-day races and single stages in stage races than general classifications but the team has yet to become a major player in the cobbled classics. They got close in 2013 when Sebastian Langeveld was arguably one of the strongest riders in the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix but the talented Dutchman didn't get the results that his strength would have deserved.

Langeveld has now teamed up with Nick Nuyens and Johan Vansummeren at Garmin-Sharp while Stuart O'Grady has ended his career. This means that there are no obvious leaders at Orica-GreenEDGE and this could open the door for Hayman who is a past podium finisher in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

"The team is less stacked with classics riders than Sky, obviously, so I might get more opportunities," Hayman told Cyclingnews. "But there are also some young guys on the team excited about the classics and it's nice to see a new generation of Australians who want to do well in those races. There's young guys there starting to get a passion for those races but it takes years and years to learn the roads, and I'll give them any help I can to shorten that learning period."

One race means more to Hayman than anyone else.

"The race that I live for is Paris-Roubaix and I was in that lead group when [Johan] Vansummeren won [in 2011 – ed.] and maybe that was my chance," he said. "But every now and then, Roubaix throws up a podium that's not the traditional of Fabian and Tom. So I live in hope that I'll get another chance."

Hayman was part of Sky's unsuccessful attempt to crack the cobbled classics. While the team has been dominating stage racing, it has been unable to put itself in a similar position in the one-day races and apart from a few wins in the Belgian opening weekend, they still have to win some of the major races on the cobbles.

Hayman writes it down to the nature of the races.

"If you're going to say that GreenEdge has done a lot but not been able to hit it at the cobbled classics, then look at Sky. What haven't they done in cycling in four years? But they still haven't been able to crack one of those monuments, so it's not easy," Hayman said. "When you come up against the likes of Boonen, Cancellara and Sagan, and when those guys are on, they're hard to beat, even with strong teams. It's not easy, but that's why Flanders and Roubaix are the biggest races."

Hayman will skip the Belgian opening weekend and will instead participate in a small training camp before doing the Paris-Nice in preparation of the biggest cobbled races.