After a year full of ups and downs at Wanty-Groupe Gobert, Michel Kreder is now focusing in 2015. He joins the new Roompot Orange cycling in the coming season and will be riding with his brother Raymond and cousin Wesley at the Dutch team, something that is unique in cycling.

Michel Kreder first heard about the Orange Cycling project in the end of June.

“In the cycling world, there were a lot of rumours that Michael Zijlaard was going to start a new team,” he tells Wielerflits in an interview. “Then I asked him what his exact intentions were. Zijlaard told me about the philosophy an entirely Dutch team and that appealed to me. But we still had no deal.”

“In the middle of August, I called my brother Raymond and my nephew Wesley. We all got a contract offer from the team. We decided to meet to make a common decision but we quickly reached a conclusion: of course we all wanted to ride together in the same team. As I had already been riding with Raymond at Garmin-Sharp at with Wesley at Wanty-Groupe Gobert this year, I already knew how cool it was to ride together. I had always liked it and I had just noticed that you can give a little bit more for them than for anyone else. Now we will all be together which makes it much nicer. We could not miss that opportunity.”

For Kreder, it was a fairly easy decision. 

"I could have stayed with Wanty-Groupe Gobert and there were contacts with other teams, but when I got the offer from Roompot, I was really no longer in doubt. Of course the family aspect was decisive but it also appealed to me that I will be a leader in many races. Therefore I don’t see next year and my season at Wanty Groupe Gobert as a step back compared to my time at Garmin-Sharp, where I rode at WorldTour level. There I did not always get anything to say while in a smaller team like Rompoot there will be less riders with the same goals as me. This year I noticed that difference.”

But there is one big difference between Wanty-Groupe Gobert and Roompot Orange Cycling: the latter is a new team which nevertheless presents a risk. The way of working is not yet known and the racing program is not clear. However, the 26-year-old rider sees no problem. 

"Based on everything I've heard and how it is now, I have great confidence that everything will be very professional and that everything will be well-organized. Every week I am in contact with the management. I am very happy with that. Last week the entire team was gathered for the Bike Motion. That was a fun day. In a week or two, we will have our first real meeting.”

“I am not worried by the race schedule either. Now I only know that we have received a wildcard for the Amstel Gold Race and the Eneco Tour. Furthermore, the management is trying to get us in as many 2.1 and 1.1 races as possible, including the one-day races in Italy where I rode well this autumn. When they saw that I performed well, they really wanted to ride them. We just have to wait and see if I will again be at the start but that won’t keep me awake in the nights. It is possible that I will miss some races that I would usually do but they will be replaced by others.”

"It would be especially nice if I could ride as much as possible with Raymond and Wesley but that depends on which races we will focus on. For example, Raymond and Wesley would like to ride the cobbled classics while I prefer to concentrate on the hilly classics. Therefore we may be split up a bit but it should be better later in the season.”

The hilly classics will be the main goal for Kreder in 2015.

“Those are the races which I am made for. I know that they suit me. This season it didn’t go well at all but I will still go there in the future. Normally I will be given a leadership role in those races but Johnny Hoogerland and Marc de Maar will also have a protected role. Obviously I don’t mind. Then I also hope to get close in the bunch sprints. In terms of training, that is no problem. I also need the explosive aspect of sprinting on the climbs. The hills and sprint training complement each other.”

Another challenge for the allrounder is to do better than he did this season. Unlike previous years when he won several stages in French stage races, Kreder didn’t take a single win.

“Especially the first part of the year didn’t go well. I had problems with an infected tooth so I was ill four or five times. Every time you have to start from scratch which is hard both mentally and physically. Occasionally I did well but those moments were rare. In June, I got help. In July, I had no races but in August I showed that I was on the mend.”

Kreder did so by taking a fifth and sixth place in the Arctic Race of Norway. But his best performances came in September and October. In the Italian autumn races, he was with the best on the climbs. 15th in Memorial Marco Pantani, 13th in Tre Valli Varesine and GP Industria, 11th in GP Beghelli and 10th in Giro dell’Emilia are proof of that.

"Again it was not an absolute highlight was again but to be close gives you confidence. It is a nice feeling to be among the 10-15 best riders in hard races. In that way, I could end my unlucky year on a good note and go into the winter with a super feeling. Next week I will start my preparation for 2015 with Roompot Orange Cycling, and I will do so with the confidence that I will do better next year.”