Michał Kwiatkowski of Omega Pharma – Quick Step emerged as one of biggest revelations of the 2013 season and he seems to continue his rise, as the young Pole has just claimed his career’s first professional win while outsprinting powerful climbers in the tough finale of Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana in Mallorca. In the interview for Biciciclismo.com just before approaching the next event scheduled in his racing calendar for 2014, Kwiatkowski confessed that he hopes mainly for further improvement while his confidence has already been significantly boosted by his past performances.

“I feel pretty much the same. I’ve done preseason preparations same as always, but I hope for further progress this season, but physically and mentally, however I already have more confidence in myself,” Kwiatkowski told Biciciclismo.com

The 24-year old Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider has already shown his potential few years ago, especially as a promising time-trialist, when he won the European Championships in both road race and time trial, but the 2013 season has to be considered a breakthrough year, even if he didn’t manage to emphasize it in a form of a professional win, as Kwiatkowski has shown an exceptional versatility in many entirely different scenarios, from Ardennes Classics to Tour the France debut.

Asked about his own recollections from the 2013 season, the Polish rider admits he has been very confident from the beginning as he felt prepared better than ever before after the winter break and trusted that his team will provide him with a racing schedule in with he can excel without being put under too big pressure.

“The truth is that in the beginning of the season I was very self-confident. I worked harder than ever to perform well, the team knew that the work has been done properly and prepared a schedule in which I could excel. I couldn’t predict how good it would turn out to be, but I knew it would be a good year.”

“I learned many things, rode many races. But mostly, I think the most important thing I learned was how to survive in the Tour de France, I debuted at the Tour de France and proved I can be competitive in this kind of race.”

Asked about his main objectives for the 2014 season, Kwiatkowski reveals than there were some significant changes to his schedule comparing with the racing calendar he followed last year, with participation in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco instead of Flemish Classics being the most significant difference. His main goals, however, remain quite the same.

“After the kick-off of the season in Challenge Mallorca I’m focused on being in the good shape for Tirreno-Adriatico before reaching my peak disposition for the Ardennes Classics. That’s the plan for the first part of the season, while in the second part I will focus to be ready for the Tour the France,” Kwiatkowski revealed his main objectives for 2014

“This year I’ll skip them [cobbled classics]. I’d rider participate in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco as a build-up for Ardennes. I will return to Flanders, though.”

Even though the Omega Pharma-Quick Step roster has been significantly boosted during the winter break, the Polish rider does not fear the competition from the likes of Rigoberto Uran claiming, that he is pleased to gain experience while riding together with cyclists of his class. He also believes he would be included into the Belgian team’s roster for the Tour the France after he finished the French grand tour in 11th place on his debut last year.

“It is clear that the team will do a very good selection having leaders like Tony Martin or Mark Cavendish, but last year I finished 11th and I hope to improve on that result again.”

The highly exceptional versatility of Kwiatkowski as always raised questions about in which direction he wishes to develop. Being perfectly suited to become the next classics specialist, however, Kwiatkowski claims to have some greater expectations and after positive experiences brought from last season he considered himself as a future GC rider.

“Right now I think I can be a good rider for general classifications, I have qualities do excel [in such races], what I have proved last week. Apart from that, OPQS is a very powerful team in the TTT what gives me additional options.”