Despite taking Paris-Roubaix last season, Niki Terpstra doesn’t think his status has changed within the Etixx-Quick Step team, something which he says can play into his advantage as his team look to win more Cobbled Classics in 2015.

“I think it’s like last year,” Terpstra said at the team’s media day. “Of course, they have trust me in me otherwise they wouldn’t have signed me for another three years but I don’t think it’s going to change a lot. The strength of our team is that we have a lot of strong riders in the final of a race; not only one captain, but some more riders who can finish the job.”

Stijn Devolder won back-to-back Flanders titles in 2009 and 2010, using Boonen as a foil and this is something Terpstra used in Roubaix and says he and his teammates can use again.

“I really like this system actually, especially with Tom: he always has your back. He’s there, he can finish the job and I feel really strong with him and confident,” Tersptra said. “And that’s the thing I prefer to being the only guy. When everybody is in good shape, we have a really good team. [Matteo] Trentin can win races, [Zdenek] Stybar can win races, [Stijn] Vandenbergh can win races.”

While Flanders will be important for Terpstra, as the defending chanpion at Roubaix, he says he will feel extra pressure and will be dissatisfied with any result apart from a successful title defence. However, he would be slightly happier if a teammate won.

“If you are the number one, when you come back the following year and you don’t win, it feels like losing. So of course I’m extremely motivated to race good there again,” he said, before carefully adding: “In the end I must not only focus on myself to win but on the team to win.”