In 2014 Romain Feillu will step down to the professional continental level when he joins the Bretagne team. After a couple of difficult years, he sees the change as a new beginning and hopes to find back to the level he showed in 2011.

In 2011, Romain Feillu was knocking on the door to become one of the best sprinters in the world. That year he won 8 races, finished 6th in the world championships, was in the top 6 on five stages of the Tour de France and was a perennial top 10 finisher in the sprints.

The results were confirmation of the potential he had shown when he first stepped into the spotlight in the 2008 Tour de France. On that occasion, he wore the yellow jersey for a day and his move to Vacansoleil and the WorldTour appeared to have made him step up his game a further notch.

However, 2011 was also the year when he started to suffer from problems with his appendix that continued to plague him in 2012 and 2013. He failed to win a single race in the past two seasons and went through a very difficult time.

His appendix was removed on August 14 and he is now optimistic that he will be able to find back to his former level. In 2014, he will be in new surroundings as the demise of Vacansoleil has forced him to find a new team.

With 5 professional teams folding, the search was a difficult one and with two bad years in 2012 and 2013, Feillu knew that there was no guarantee that he would be able to continue his career. Luckily, he signed a contract with the Bretagne team but it did not come without any financial consequences.

"No, not at all!," he told L'Echo Republicain when asked whether he had considered to end his career. "I did everything to stay in the peloton. I do not have the age to retire. I had to make major financial sacrifices. This is the case for many riders who have signed for a new team with a lower salary. I was ready to continue in the pro peloton and I even paid to be there."

Feillu is only 29 years old and doesn't plan to end his career in the near future.

"I see myself continuing until I am 40 years old," he said. "It's a beautiful life. It's not bad to travel, I like being with the team, the trainers, the mechanics. I feel I have many things to do in cycling.

In 2014, Feillu will take a step down but he hopes that the change will be a new beginning.

"Everything will change, the colleagues, the bikes," he said. "I will live like I did on Agritubel. I have fond memories of that team."

Despite his recent travails, Feillu will be a protected rider on his new team.

"I will be protected in the sprints although Florian Vachon and Armindo Fonseca have the same profile as I have. But if I find back to my 2011 level, I will be ahead of them," he said. "I hope to ride the Coupe de France races and I will try to win them. I would also like to do the biggest races like the Paris-Nice, Criterium International and the Dauphiné. And I am confident that we will be invited to the Tour. Anyway, if we don't, I will take my share of the responsibility."

Feillu may take a step down but he still has lofty goals for the future and he is very clear when asked to point out which races he would like to win.

"Paris-Tours," he said. "That is a race that suits me. And Liège-Bastogne-Liège! But also Flèche Wallonne and Milan Sanremo."

Feillu's most recent win came on June 5, 2011 on a stage of the Tour of Luxembourg.