After swapping Cannondale for Etixx-QuickStep, Dan Martin hopes to win his first Fleche before adding another Liege to his palmares on Sunday in his first Ardennes with the Belgian squad.

“Nothing beyond the recon and the race. I’ve done it eight times, so I’ve done the major climbs 16 times. I know the course very well. I know where I am going on those roads. Maybe it’s not as important as with the cobblestone races to know every inch of the roads. I know the key climbs,” Martin told Velonews when asked about special pre-Ardennes training.

One aspect of his career is the crashes. He hopes Etixx can position him better than his old team to reduce the number of times he hits the deck.

“I only crashed four times last year. It was wrong time and wrong place. Maybe this is something how this team can help me, because they can keep me in the right place. I’ve noticed the respect you get in the peloton with an Etixx jersey. I’m not going to start the race thinking that I am going to fall off today. If you start living like that, you might just stay in bed all day. I did Liège six times without crashes before what happened in 2014.”

Martin is looking forward to racing the Ardennes with Julian Alaphilippe, who was second in the 2015 editions of Fleche and Liege and has returned to form with sixth in Amstel.

“It’s going to be good fun to race with him. He’s faster than me in the sprints, and I am a better climber. And we have other options. In the Ardennes, we are very deep. Julian is still very young, and he knows he has a lot to learn. If I wasn’t on the team, all eyes would be on him for the Ardennes. We can share the load a little bit, and we’ll see what happens.”