Despite Mark Cavendish once more having a team that will work almost solely for him, rival Alexander Kristoff says he knows what to expect from the ex-World Champion as he is using the same riders he had in his HTC-Highroad days, which ended in 2011.

“It will be exciting with Kittel because he has new team-mates. Cav he has more or less the same team-mates as before so he will not be that exciting,” said the 28-year old at Katusha’s winter camp in Calpe, in an interview with Cycling Weekly.

“We know what they [Cavendish and his team-mates] can do, what their strengths are and not, but we shall see.”

Indeed, Cavendish has once more got Mark Renshaw, Bernhard Eisel and even Edvald Boasson Hagen back at his side to lead him out in the sprints. While Kristoff won more race than Cavendish in 2015, 20 to 14, the Manxman got a Tour stage, which the Norwegian didn’t. Kristoff wonders if as age begins to catch up on the leadout, if they will have lost their pace a little bit.

“For sure they are good, in HTC [Highroad] they were winning a lot, but now they are older maybe, hopefully a little slower,” said Kristoff. “You don’t get stronger when you get older; you maybe get smarter, but less powerful.”