It may only be December, but Team Sky’s Classics squad have really set out their stall to win a Monument for the first time by training on the parcours of both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix this week.

Sky DS Servais Knaven piloted nine riders through four hours of the Flanders course on Monday, before riding 90km of Paris-Roubaix on the Tuesday. The nine riders to attend camp were Luke Rowe, Ian Stannard, Elia Viviani, Salvatore Puccio, Christian Knees, Andy Fenn, neo-pro Gianni Moscon and new signings Michal Kwiatkowski and Danny Van Poppel. Geraint Thomas was moving apartments and wasn’t able to make the meet.

“They are not ready yet, it’s still the beginning of December!” Knaven told Cycling Weekly. “Ian and Luke are really up for it. They want the leader’s role and want to take the chance.”

“Luke made a big step last year, worked a lot in Flanders and was still up there in the final. That was impressive. Also in Roubaix, where he just missed the final group on the last sector. That was big for him and he’s still disappointed about that. Luke and Ian work well together and they know each other well. They will be able to share the leadership role in some races.”

Knaven says that it is good to integrate new signings to the Classics squad early and let everyone get to know each other a good 130 days before Flanders, which may prove beneficial on race day.

“When you are at the camp with the whole team you have 25 riders, but here we just had the classics group with the new faces like Gianni Moscon, Van Poppel and Kwiatkowski. It’s good to have them all together. It’s team building.”