The fact that the Trek Factory Racing team’s presentation took place in the Roubaix velodrome shows how committed the team are to leader Fabian Cancellara. However, the man himself does not see himself as the sole leader of the squad:

"I don’t know how much you want to think I was involved in this whole case," Cancellara said about the purchase of the squad’s license from Flavio Becca.

"First, Trek made its own decision and said on its own, ‘we’re going to go on with something new.’ It’s not taking over the whole thing because this is a brand new team and a new adventure. I talked with [manager] Luca [Guercilena] and I said that’s the direction I want to go in, but on the end I really left it to them to make the team.

"What really counts is this is not my team. The team would be there even without me, and I think the best thing now is that they are taking over everything and they have everything in hand with Luca on the sports side."

Cancellara, who was speaking at the team’s launch, will once again target the Cobbled Classics that he dominated in 2013. He will have to go up against another King of the Cobbles in Tom Boonen as well as young pretender Peter Sagan and of his rivalry with Boonen he said, "I always look forward to big races. Of course, for the media and the public, it’s a big thing but it’s not just Tom and I, that’s what makes racing special: nothing is predictable. I respect him a lot. Of course I didn’t want to see him on the ground but I was on the ground the year before. Sport is not predictable."