Giant-Alpecin may have suffered a blow when Marcel Kittel left the team, but the squad know they still have plenty of talent remaining to chase big wins in big races next year.

"John Degenkolb was already a star and then we've seen Tom Dumoulin and Warren Barguil step up. So as a team they deserve our backing for the future. If you look at our team, though, we still have a very strong mechanism that backs sprinters, like John, and someone like Nikias Arndt for the Classics. Then with our younger riders we’re going to give them time to develop. Then we have added more experience with Laurens ten Dam so we've certainly tried to cover more fields," team manager Iwan Spekenbrink told Cyclingnews.

The team has half of the wins they and Kittel achieved in 2014 this season, but the quality has certainly improved, winning Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix, as well as stages at the Tour, Vuelta, Basque Country and Polish stage races.

Looking to the 2016 squad, it is an increasingly young one, with veteran Laurens Ten Dam adding some climbing help and talented neo-pros Max Walscheid, Soren Kragh Andersen, Sindre Skjostad Lunke and Sam Oomen showing the team has an eye on the future too.

"We just want to have the best talent in the team and that's the plan. There's the old sports law that you try and put more emphasis where you have more chances. If you're a football club and you have two wingers, you're going to play a style of the game that suits them. It's the same with what we did. Back in 2008 and 2009 we laid the groundwork for the sprint train and then with Degenkolb and Kittel we started to then build Classics teams. We've developed in other areas and while there's not so much pressure on short term results we've put emphasis on other areas. We'll carry on playing to our strengths."

As for the stars, Tom Dumoulin may not target a Grand Tour in 2016, but will be expected to win big. Warren Barguil will get another crack at the Tour and Degenkolb will try and defend his Classics as well as try and win a first Tour stage.