Last year Michal Kwiatkowski earned his first Worlds title at the senior level when he was part of the winning Omega Pharma-Quick Step team in the team time trial in Florence. Being back to defend his title, the Pole is more confident in his chances than he was 12 months ago.

In 2012 Michal Kwiatkowski had to watch from the sidelines when Omega Pharma-Quick Step took a narrow victory in the inaugural edition of the World Team Time Trial Championships. Last year he finally got his chance when he helped the Belgian team defend its title.

This year Kwiatkowski is in Ponferrada with the aim to make it two in a row and protect Omega Pharma-Quick Step’s status as undefeated in the race for the global honours. Compared to last year, the team has undergone massive changes as Sylvain Chavanel, Kristof Vandewalle and Peter Velits who were all part of last year’s winning performance, have all left the team. Instead, Pieter Serry, Julien Vermote and Tom Boonen have been brought in as replacements.

On paper, the team seems to be weakened as Chavanel, Vandewalle and Velits have all won big time trials in major races. However, Kwiatkowski refuses that assessment and claims to be more confident that he was 12 months ago.

“I don’t think we are weaker,” he told CyclingQuotes when he sat down to speak with us at the team’s hotel near Ponferrada. “We have Julien, Serry and Tom who was already there two years ago. Julien was incredible in the Tour of Britain. Pieter Serry is going to represent Belgium in the TT in Ponferrada. They are really in good form.

“I am confident in our team for this year. Last year was the first time I did the race so from my point of view, I believe more in our chances than I did last year.”

Last year’s course was almost completely flat. This year the route is more rolling but has mostly been described as another perfect fit for the big powerhourses who can ride fast on the flats.

Nonetheless, Kwiatkowski sees several differences that could make for a different race,

”For sure it is harder than last year,” he said. “In Florence, we had just one uphill section and then a straight line to the finish. There were some technical parts in the end.

“This year it is much harder with some steep climbs, flat sections with wide roads and small roads, a lot of technical moments. It is a little bit longer but in the end you can never compare it to other races.”

Last year Omega Pharma-Quick Step beat Orica-GreenEDGE by just 0.8 seconds. Unsurprisingly, Kwiatkowski points to the Australian team as the main rivals.

“For GreenEDGE, it is of course one of the most important team time trials of the year so they will be competitive,” he said. “Sky really looks strong. As outsiders, we have Trek and Movistar who are in their home country. Of course they will fight for medals.”

CyclingQuotes also spoke to Kwiatkowski about his ideas for the road race, the end of the season and his plans for 2015. You can read more about that in later articles.