After taking a fantastic sixth place in Flanders for an illness-hit Cannondale team, 23 year old Dutchman Dylan Van Baarle is hoping for more success in Paris-Roubaix.

The Dutchman says his race wont change even if the weather does and it begins to rain, his objective remains taking as strong a result as possible.

“It’s like a new race if it’s wet because it’s been a long time since we’ve had a new Roubaix,” Van Baarle told Cyclingnews. “For me it doesn’t matter if it’s wet or dry, I just want to get the best result possible again.”

He says he must anticipate the favourites once more and attack early if he wants to take a second successive big result in a Monument.

“If I want to ride a good result then I think I need to do the same as I did in Flanders, and try to be in the front when guys like Sagan and Cancellara attack. I think maybe Sagan is maybe a little bit better than Cancellara. They’re outstanding and it’s hard to follow them but that could work against them as they’re so strong maybe people don’t want to work with them. It could be a really open race with some surprises on the podium.”

Van Baarle says he really suffered through training in the winter but he is pleased with the results he is getting now, showing it was all worth it.

“I’m a year stronger but this year I changed all my training in the winter and I’m working with JV and he makes my training programmes. That’s worked out really well. It was a hard winter but if you see the results now you can see it’s working.”