Katusha manager Viacheslav Ekimov has said that he expects Daniel Moreno to take more responsibility in 2014 instead of always playing the role of loyal lieutenant for Joaquim Rodriguez. The Spaniard is looking forward to the challenge but insists that he will still do most of his races with his team captain at his side.

Daniel Moreno is mostly known as the rider who always support Joaquim Rodriguez in the biggest races but the Spaniard has often proved that he is fully capable of leading a team himself. In 2012 he won the Vuelta a Burgos overall, two stages of the Dauphiné and was 5th in the Vuelta a Espana and last year he won two Vuelta stages, the Fleche Wallonne and was 3rd overall in  the Criterium du Dauphiné.

Those results have prompted Katusha manager Viacheslav Ekimov to increase his expectations for his Spanish rider. In an interview in December, the Russian said that he planned to have Moreno do more races without Rodriguez, hoping that he could take more responsibility himself.

Moreno has just finished his first race of the season in the Tour de San Luis. Having had a bad crash while training in Argentina in late December, he is a little bit behind in his preparation and was behind the best on the climbs.

Despite the setback, he is already looking forward to the greater number of personal opportunities even though he insists that he will still be doing most of the race with his captain.

"It sounds good even though I won't do many races on my own [without Rodriguez]," he told Biciclismo. "Tirreno, Sanremo - if I do it - and the Daupiné. I like that people expect thing of me. With a good team around me, everything is possible. We have a good block of Russians: Vorganov, Trofimov, Silin... good friends who support me 120%. I am ready. Last year I only did the Dauphiné as a captain. I like to take responsibility."

Despite his desire to have more personal opportunities, he doesn't plan to leave Rodriguez and Katusha.

"I feel comfortable," he said. "And why should I leave if I can help Purito [Rodriguez] get big wins and still have my own chances? So I don't like to change it when things are going well. And to split our duo would be unwise. Furthermore, I would be bored without him...

"I like to have personal challenges but I am very comfortable with my Spanish colleagues at Katusha," he added. "We are a nice group and almost live together. I would not like to lose that. I like the day-to-day routines, it is an incentive for training and racing. If I changed to another team, I could maybe win other races but my happiness and life would be different."

As Rodriguez has decided to skip the Tirreno-Adriatico to train for the Giro, Moreno will get his chance to lead the team in the Italian race. Afterwards, he will focus on the Ardennes where he aims to defend his Fleche Wallonne title while also supporting Rodriguez. In May, he will be back in the Giro to support Rodriguez before getting his own chance in the Dauphiné where he has had must success in the past two years.

"We are obviously going to the Giro with a strong team that will be there 100% to help him win the Giro and I hope we will succeed," he said. "They [the defeats in the 2012 Giro and Vuelta where Rodriguez lost the lead close to the end] were very hard blows. But who knows if we will one day win a grand tour because of that. They will be an incentive and a challenge; thanks to those defeats we can still get a great victory."

However, Moreno also admits that he would like to perform well in a grand tour on his own.

"I've always said that I would like to end on the podium," he said. "Two years ago I was 5th in the Vuelta despite helping Purito. But the stars have to align to be able to fight for the podium."

Moreno admits that his crash in Argentina has slowed him down a bit and had an impact on his performance in San Luis.

"I have been going slowly because after my accident, I am not yet recovered completely," he said. "I honestly thought that I had broken something because I crashed into the car with a speed of 44km/h. At first I could not move. I stopped for a few days because I could not lift my leg. So I am not too good because I have only been able to train a little bit.

Despite the accident, his schedule hasn't changed.

"Oman, Tirreno, almost certainly Milan-Sanremo, Catalunya, the Ardennes classics and the Giro d'Italia," he said. "I have several objectives. I really like the classics which are my key goals. I prepare for them. And in the Tirreno, I will be the leader but I have been hampered a little by the crash but hope to be going well. Everything depends on having good weather because if it is bad, I will be eliminated."