Tanner Putt, the UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling rider, will ride for his first time Paris-Roubaix. After studying the route of the race, he said that there is no fear. “Not scared. More … excited,” Putt said at the start of Scheldeprijs Wednesday morning, according to Velonews.

“Ever since I was a little kid I’ve been watching these guys on TV, watching them in these big races. Roubaix, I’ve been watching that race since I was 10 years old, it’s the one race that I’ve always wanted to do, more than the Tour, more than anything, so lining up with those guys, it’s amazing,” he said.

He knows that the victory is impossible. But he hopes to be an actor of the race with maybe a breakaway according to his sport director Hendrik Redant. “What’s important here is that they get dialed in in making the break. So I planned with them how to cover all the moves. For us, it’s important to get that schedule dialed in. Who is covering the moves? How are we going to cover the moves? Who is covering for each other in the team? If you go, I go next, then him, then him, then you. For [perfecting] that system, this race is important.”

The Utah native raced last year the U-23 Paris-Roubaix. “The Arenberg Forest, I’m really looking forward to my first time through there,” he added. “I’m not really a quick sprinter, more just a powerful sprint, so a smaller group at the end of a hard day is what I prefer. I never did a ton of cobble races as a U-23, but we’ve done quite a few this year, and I love racing on the cobbles.”