2016 could be the first year that Giant-Alpecin specifically targets something other than bunch sprints. Star sprinter Marcel Kittel has terminated his contract, while stage racer Tom Dumoulin and climber Warren Barguil (who have both finished in the top ten at the Vuelta and won two stages each) have signed deals until 2018. John Degenkolb is still fast enough to win bunch sprints, but he looks like developing into a dominant force in the Classics after big wins in Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix this year.

“What happened is the team has grown,” team manager Iwan Spekenbrink told Cyclingtips in a phone interview.

“The main chance of success was Marcel [but the team has] developed more world stars. We cannot deny that also John Degenkolb is a chance for success and in the future Warren Barguil and Tom Dumoulin will also be chances for success. But it does not mean we [fire] all the guys who were in the lead-out of Marcel. The guys who supported him in the sprint train are still the core of the team."

Kittel wasn’t selected for the Tour de France and Degenkolb couldnt lead the team to a stage win, that job was done by Simon Geschke, taking the team’s first ever mountaintop victory in the Tour. This was the first big signal the focus was shifting. Barguil has always climbed well, but many presumed he would eventually move on to target GC at another team. But then Dumoulin produced the ride of the season at the Vuelta to lose the jersey on the last hilly day. Now the team has two bona fide GC contenders, a fast Classics man and some good breakaway specialists, and things are looking much less sprint orientated.

“Whatever I say now is an assumption and not yet the final plan but we have a guy in the team, John Degenkolb, who is quite a guarantee of scoring results in the Tour,” Spekenbrink said.

The problem is the Dumoulin is likely to target the Giro in order to be fresh for the Olympics, so Degenkolb may be forced to do flat sprints again, but in 2016 he will be prepared, rather than being told fairly last minute that he was to ride for himself, and not in his usual Tour role as Kittel’s leadout man. Barguil will shoulder the role of leadership in the mountains while Geschke should be back on breakaway duty.

“This year Warren Barguil made his debut and it was just to learn about the Tour and how he would react if he gets tired, if he gets all the attention, all those things. We hope he will make the next step in development at the Tour next year and that we can give him some more support there. But that support can also help in the lead-out.”

“Of course we put more emphasis where there are champions so we will keep working on the sprint train and on the team work there. It’s not that we skip it and say we will only take climbers in the team, not at all.”