After two unspectacular years in Orica – GreenEDGE outfit, Sebastian Langeveld is looking forward to the challenges of the upcoming season. Playing an important role in the visible transformation of Garmin – Sharp rejuvenated roster, Dutch cyclist hopes that a new team will be able to provide him with a stronger support  in his efforts to reach career’s main objectives – improving on his results in spring classics, and finally taking a victory in one of those monumental races. The Dutchman believes, that having in the squad riders like David Millar, Nick Nuyens, Stijn Vansummeren or Jack Bauer, the major strength of Garmin – Sharp lays in the number of cyclist capable of performing well in classic races and playing the finale together against the likes of Fabian Cancellara, Peter Sagan and Tom Boonen.

28-year old Sebastian Langeveld, who started professional career in 2007 in the Rabobank team and then stayed in the squad for five consecutive seasons, quickly identified himself as a promising one-day racer. With all his efforts early turned to achieve top results in spring classic races, Dutch rider can boast of five professional wins to date, with a victory in 2011 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, where he overraced tireless Juan Antonio Flecha in a rainy finale, considered as the most valuable. Besides that, Langeveld participated in 20 one-day major events, finishing in the top 10 on three occasions: in Ronde van Vlaanderen (2011, 2013) and Paris – Rubaix (2013).

Although past two seasons in the outfit of the Australian team were anything but spectacular for the Dutch cyclist, Langeveld positively evaluates his time spent in Orica – GreenEDGE, claiming, that considering all circumstances he feels satisfied with a level of progress he has made as a professional rider.

“In general it was a really good time,” he said of his time with the Australian squad.

“Before that I was at Rabobank for five years and that was a really long time. Shayne Bannan came along with a contract offer and I was really happy with Orica, and I enjoyed taking my chance on a team outside of Holland.”

However the Dutchman had a spring campaign to forget after crashing out of Ronde van Vlaanderen in 2012, he managed to successfully bounce back in 2013, when he significantly improved on his result in both Tour of Flanders and Paris – Rubaix. Garmin – Sharp rider reveals, that despite the presence of some big names in Orica GreenEDGE’s roster, like Stuart O’Grady or Baden Cooke, in most cases he was forced to play the finale on his own. Thus, Dutch cyclist believes, that with a greater support provided by his new team he’s going to continue on building up on previous results.

“I did want to win a couple of races, of course, but in 2012 when I crashed in Flanders I was ready for a top result in that race and in Roubaix. This year I was really steady with my results in the Classics and my level, in the races where I needed to perform, was good. I was a little bit disappointed at the same time because I’m a bike rider and you want to win but that’s racing,” he told Cyclingnews.

“When I made my choice to move to GreenEdge I had to look at their strength for the Classics. You had riders like Cooke and O’Grady, and on paper it looked like a stable team so that if it came down to 40 or 50 riders we’d have maybe four or five guys left. In 2012 it’s hard to analyze because I crashed out but in 2013, Cooke, he helped me in Flanders but in the rest of the races, if there were 40 guys left I would be there by myself. So when I talked to Shayne back in May about whether I would stay or go, we talked about the Classics. At that point they didn’t have anything confirmed.”

Langeveld revealed, that before signing with Garmin – Sharp we experienced some interest from other major teams, including Sky Procycling and Cannondale, they never offered him a contract, though.

“I had a couple of chats with Brailsford. At Amstel Gold I went to Maastricht and had a chat with him in person. I thought after that chat he’d make me an offer but unfortunately the market was a little crazy this year and no offer came. So when Jonathan Vaughters came to me and said he wanted to talk about the next two years he made things happen pretty quickly.”

“There were a couple of other teams I was talking with, a lot of managers expressed interest but they never came back with contracts. There were actually a few talks with Cannondale, an Italian team, but in the end I chose Garmin and by August I had my deal," he told Cyclingnews.

The Dutchman stays positive about his chances in the new outfit and claims, that the major strength of American team lays in the number of cyclist capable of performing well and supporting each other during spring campaigns. At the age of 28, he believes, that the best is still ahead of him and every single step brings him closer to a long awaited victory.

“We have a good team. We have Nuyens who has won a lot of races. We have Vansummeren who has a lot of experience and has won Roubaix and then you have me. Then you add in David Millar and Jack Bauer who will probably also do those races. Me, Vansummeren and Nuyens will start off in Dubai and from there we’ll see how our condition is, but we should look to work together when it comes to the Classics. If all three of us can make it to the finales of the big races and go from there, that’s surely a good thing.”

 “I’m 28 now but I’ve been a pro for a number of years now. If you’re not Sagan, Cancellara or Boonen you need to make smaller steps, just one or two percent and then one year you’ll be there in the finale. I have the potential to win one of those races and someone like Cancellara, he’s not going to win every year. We’ll see and like I said I’ll do everything I can.

"Both Flanders and Roubaix are the dream races to win. If I can get to the end of my career and win one of those races, that’s the dream and I’ll do everything I can for it. Each year I’m trying to make progress, taking one step at a time."