After recording a breakthrough season in 2013 and as a consequence being regarded as a one of the most versatile and promising rising stars of his generation, Michał Kwiatkowski of Omega Pharma-Quick Step is looking for further improvement this year.

The 23-year old Pole made a huge impression with his versatility and achievements last season, leading the Belgian squad at the Tour de San Luis, finishing within the top 5 in Amstel Gold Race, La Fleche Wallonne and exceptionally tough edition of Tirreno-Adriatico, before he narrowly missed recording top 10 result in the Tour the France general classification on his debut. Kwiatkowski, first recognized as a promising time-trialist, had a significant contribution in TTT stages won by Omega Pharma-Quick Step, resulted with his first World Championships medal in the elite category clinched after some tremendous effort with a formidable Belgian squad in Florence last September.

“First things first, and I want to make a little bit more progress from last year,” Kwiatkowski confidently told Cyclingnews at his team’s recent training camp.

“I have some great memories from last season and I believe in myself even more now so the ambitions are to ride well at Tirreno, be in the best shape possible for the Ardennes and then I’d like to ride the Tour again.”

Even though the young Pole is aware of broad possibilities for his further development, which come in hand with his well recognized versatility, he accurately points out to those fields on which the greatest improvement has to be made, especially regarding to his climbing skills and an ability to transform unquestionable potential into satisfying results.  Apart from TTT stages won together with his Omega Pharma-Quick Step team-mates, Kwiatkowski managed to win only one race last year, becoming a Polish National Champion in road race.

As it was suggested by Omega Pharma-Quick Step manager Patrick Lefevere, it is still undecided which direction should be taken in the context of Kwiatkowski’s further development, but being repeatedly asked the same question by Polish media, young cyclist hinted that he has greater ambitions than restricting himself to becoming typical rider for the Classics.

“My strength is that I can be good everywhere,” he told Cyclingnews.

“I don’t really have weak points and that’s good if I have GC in major races on my mind. That’s good because if you look at the Tour for example, we’re going to ride on the cobbles and I’m pretty good at that. I know I still need to work on things and improve my climbing as that’s where I lose the most time.

“I still need to lose a bit more of that baby fat, that young weight so I need to ride more kilometres but there’s more to come from me. Race weight for me at the moment is around 66, 67 kilograms.”

While Omega Pharma-Quick Step, with its significantly bolstered and more complete than ever roster for 2014, is considered the team to beat in the new season, the pressure being divided into their many stars should work in the favour of Kwiatkowski, as the young Pole will continue on gaining experience, being most likely allowed to play his own cards in some major races.

“You need luck in order to do a GC but we already have Cavendish and Tony Martin in the team so the team spirit is already going to be high. I’m not going to talk lots about my ambitions there but it would of course be nice to do another strong GC rider there again,” Kwiatkowski said.

“We’re a team more than anything so it’s about getting results as a team. I still qualify for the white jersey and I will try and do my best but there’s no pressure from the team. Maybe they expect something more from last year but I and them just want me to improve."

“Maybe last year there were a few moments where I was too excited but overall I got everything out of myself. I had some weak moments and a few bad days but I was really surprised with how I went. If you’d said to me at the start that I’d finish 11th, I wouldn’t have believed you but I could handle that pressure around me and even wore the white jersey for a while.”