Being a part of a new wave in the German cycling along the likes of Tony Martin, Andre Greipel, John Dagenkolb or Marcel Kittel, as well as a son of a very famous father, 20-year old Rick Zabel is enjoying his first races as a professional cyclist and shares his reflections about experience he has already managed to gain in 2014 in the interview for Cyclingnews.

Before participating in the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne this Sunday Zabel has already finished two events in the BMC outfit, riding in the support of Cadel Evans in Santos Tour Down Under and Taylor Phinney in Dubai Tour. The 20-year old former German U23 national road race champion admits that both experiences positively influenced his acclimatization in a peloton consisting of professional riders.

"Professional cycling is hard work," Zabel said.

"I had two good captains with Cadel Evans in Australia and Taylor Phinney in Dubai, and we were second at Tour Down Under and first at Tour of Dubai.

"I enjoyed doing my work for such great captains, and we had great success so for me it was invaluable experience."

Zabel was fortunate to be a part of two very succesfull BMC campaigns, with Evans finishing runner up to Simon Gerrans at the Santos Tour Down Under and Phinney winning overall classification in Dubai. The young German played important role in the victory taken by his Australian leader in his first ever World Tour level event.

"It was my job to help lead Cadel into the climb, and then just let him do the rest," he said. "To be a part of the team and ride alongside Cadel and watch him handle the pressure was a good experience for me.

"He is big hero and good captain and for me it was so good to see how he handled the pressure as everybody expected him to be good and he was good. Cadel proves that hard work pays off and it was such a pleasure to ride for him."

The BMC neo-pro admits he used every opportunity to learn and gain experience from the Australian veteran while racing together.

"I learned a lot while riding with Cadel, especially on conserving energy," he said.

"If you save energy during the stage you have something in the tank for the final kilometres."

While Zabel also welcomes advise from his famous father, it's the guidance from his BMC sports director and teammates that he welcomes most.

"I have really good support from my team," said Zabel.

Obviously, Zabel also used valuable advices from his famous father, he admits, however, that orders given by his team are the first and most important to be followed, as his job now is to contribute to the team’s work and gain experience while supporting his leaders.

"I want to grow up fast and I want to be a good team member so for me it's really important what the team thinks of me and the feedback they give me.

"For sure my father helps me where he can and when I am home we speak a lot, but my job is to listen to my team and put in the work. In a few years maybe I am the captain and guys work for me, but for now I am new on the team and it is my time to work as good as possible."