Laurens ten Dam is 35 years old as he signs his first contract with Giant-Alpecin. He has been signed to support Tom Dumoulin and/or Warren Barguil in the Tour de France, but also secretly hopes to benefit from this new stimulus. "It would be very nice if this team can make me better at this age,” he tells Cyclingonline.nl in and interview

There are good agreements for next year. 

"During the Tour de France, we had the first discussions. Frankly I am also pleased that the team has contacted me. It is a systematic team and you have to fit right into the picture at that time. It would be nice if this team can also make me better at this age. I have had inspiring conversations with [manager] Iwan Spekenbrink. We have made good plans. I was ready for it after eight years with the same team. After the season, I wanted a change. Let me do it the right way. During the past three years I had a free role with LottoNL-Jumbo, otherwise you don’t ride so well in a grand tour. Now my task is much clearer, I will be a domestique. I don’t have the ambition to be in the top 10 at the Tour.”

Ten Dam will partly live in the United States. 

"But I will not do it much different than many Americans. I did not choose between plan A with a European program or plan B with an American program, but had the chance to execute plan C: Partly live and race in both the US and in Europe."

He outlines how he will plan his season.

"This month I am going to travel through the US with my family in a camper and will end up in California near Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz to see where I will feel at home. I will go back and want to do the training camp in December/January with the team. That seems important as I need to learn more about my new teammates. In mid-January I will go back to the US and then in March, I will do Paris-Nice and the Volta a Catalunya. Then I will go back to the other side of the Atlantic to train and ride the Tour of California. In June I'm going to prepare for the Tour de France. I am in the pre-selection for the Tour and it is the plan that I have to support the leader. Whether that is Tom Dumoulin, I do not know. It might just be that we never get to ride a grand tour together if he chooses to do the Giro and I decide to retire at the end of the year. In the summer I want to have the level to stay long with my leader, I'm going to work hard. I have agreed with my family that I will evaluate in August what it's like, if I managed to strengthen the team and what I'll do next. That could be to take another year in this team.But first, let's see how I like it. "

Regarding the chances of his training mate Tom Dumoulin to ever win in a grand tour, he is realistic. 

"In the last Vuelta I was impressed with him, but it may also be the best grand tour for him even though I was no there. It will also be about the courses. He can win a Tour de France like the one in 2012. That year I lost twelve minutes in the time trials. But he has to be good in the mountains again. It would be very nice if Tom or Warren could be on the podium in the Tour this year and I will be able to make a contribution, by being good in the right moments, but also by sharing my experience with the riders. But it would also be nice if I got a chance to win a stage, like Simon Geschke did last year. If I am in the right position, the team will not let me down and ask me to pull the brakes.

"In this team, nothing happens without a plan. It may therefore well be that the plan is that I jump into a leading group and who knows what will come out of that? You've seen that Simon Geschke won a Tour stage for this team . It remains a dream for me to win a Tour stage. I also look forward to helping make my teammates better, to supporting them at all levels. I am motivated to work very hard this summer that I can help the team leader well."