Departing for a training camp in Calpe, Fabio Sabatini has revealed his ambitions for 2016. The Etixx-QuickStep rider will be a key rider for Marcel Kittel after spending a year as part of Mark Cavendish's train

"I have had a quiet winter, mostly at home, playing with my son Jacopo who is 3 and a half years old," he tells Tuttobiciweb. "During the holidays I enjoyed my family. The good weather of recent months has allowed me to train well, preparing everything smoothly. Now I will finalize the work in the Spanish heat to get to the first race with good legs.

"[I will start] at the Tour de San Luis in Argentina and later travel to the Dubai Tour. I will follow almost the sam program as Kittel. I'm part of his group. Maximiliano Richeze and I will do the lead-out together with our Belgian teammates. Everybody has a height of 1.90 so we have quality and power. We just have to refine the mechanisms of the train to be able to express all our qualities."

Sabatini has had the first chance to ride with Kittel.

"I've just spent 10 days with him at the first training camp, but I soon realized that he is a guy with a very strong character," he says. "You see that he wants to redeem himself after a bad season. He is really motivated and cannot wait to start racing. We are working to create a good group around him. I was surprised to see him in being very tense and concentrated already in training. I thought 'if he is already good in December, who knows how he will be in the races."

Sabatini knows what will make it a succcessful season.

"I hope that it will be good both for me and the team," he says. "Finally I have found the serenity after a few difficult years. Two years ago I had to undergo a back surgery during the winter after breaking two vertebrae. Last year I went back under the knife to remove the metal that had been inserted so in the last two seasons I was not at 100% at the start of the year but had to find the condition along the way. This year I have not had any setbacks so I expect a super year."