Next season the Frenchman Yoann Offredo will wear the jersey of Wanty-Groupe Gobert. During the first team meeting which took place in Charleroi, his team spoke with him about the prevous season and his expectations for 2017.

Offredo ended his season at the World Championships in Qatar.

"I was disappointed to finish the season like this but I'm glad I took part in it," he said. "It was the last race of the season. It was important to stay motivated. The day after the race I was on holiday and I could rest in the last three weeks.

Offredro has been with FDJ for ten years and his new move will see him ride at pro continental level for the first time.

"I signed my first contract with the FDJ in August 2007. I rode ten years in the same team where I learned a lot," he said. "Unfortunately I settled into a routine. According to me the essence of high-level sport is risk-taking. I am 29 years old. It is time for me to show my potential. Wanty-Groupe Gobert is a familiar team where the collective and individual performances are more prominent."

Offredo has only won a stage in the Tour de Picardie in 2009 in your professional career.

"Unlike a pro-continental team the World Tour teams are only concentrated on two riders. During the 2010-2011 season I almost finished all the time in the first ten of the big classics. Subsequently I totally devoted myself to my team while staying in the first fifteen in the Spring classics. The individual victories of a professional rider does not necessarily reflect his potential. I had many collective victories with Nacer Bouhanni, Arnaud Démare, Thibaut Pinot and it is as glorious for me as an individual achievement. When you have a rider in your team who has higher qualities than you, you just put yourself at his service."

Wanty - Groupe Gobert has hired Offredo to be a team captain.

"My experience makes me able," he said about his new role. "I am a man of the beginning of the season. I'm looking forward to these races, otherwise I will not have come here. It is not money that motivates me but the challenge.

"In my opinion Peter Sagan and Greg Van Avermaet are riding in another league. Behind these two riders it is quite open. Fabian Cancellara retires. Wanty- Groupe Gobert is a homogeneous team. The riders are motivated by one-day races, it will be a challenge and we have high ambitions. I think the podium is possible in the first classic of the season, the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in Belgium which is promoted to the World Tour next year."

The team is also applying for the next Tour de France.

"It's a choice not to have ridden the Tour de France so far. The notoriety does not interest me. If I had wanted to be known, I would have participated in a reality show. I am motivated by sport and competition. The Tour de France is a controlled race from start to finish. It still remains an event in a career. For a team as Wanty-Groupe Gobert the media's resonance would be enormous. It has to be coherent in a sports project. Wanty-Groupe Gobert is a complete team. We have very good climbers and sprinters. It is possible to achieve something very coherent in the Grande Boucle, by being on attacking mode and above all by showing our great team spirit.

"The atmosphere and sensations are totally different. As a reference to the Madeleine of Proust, cycling is connected to smells, noises and especially to the French fries and beer. I particularly like drinking a glass of Duvel by the way. There is always a lot of people in Belgium watching or attending the race. I'm looking forward to starting this new adventure."