Danny van Poppel was perhaps the biggest Dutch transfer this year. He left Trek Factory team to join Team Sky. “This year I want mainly to develop as a classic racer," he told Wieler Revue.

The 22-year-old sprinter is already starting his fourth professional season but knows that he will ride less for himself. "This year I have several goals. It will not be easy to get my own chances this year. But if I get them, I must really seize them. I also want to develop myself especially as a classics rider. I've never actually done them so it is a bit of a new thing. But I'm very much looking forward to it. All spring classics are included in my program. The most important thing for me is that I was have made ​​a step at the end of the season, "says Van Poppel at the Sky training camp.

There will be no room for the sprinter at the Tour. Those spots are reserved for riders that can support defending champion Chris Froome, despite the large number of opportunities for bunch sprints in the next edition. "No, I knew before I signed that the Tour was a very difficult story. But I do not really mind. I just have to win once other even though I naturally dream of a stage win in the Tour. But I am still very young, so I still have time. Sometimes I think about Worlds in Qatar because maybe I have a chance as a sprinter. There are not a lot of top sprinters in the Netherlands although it is not easy to get selected. Last year I was also in excellent shape, but I could not go.”