Last month Milan-San Remo race organisers RCS Sport revealed that the steep ascent of Pompeiana, including sections with a maximum gradient of 14 per cent, will now feature in the finale of the first Monument of the season. The Pompeiana will be sandwiched in between the Cipressa and the final ascent, the Poggio, to make up a string of undulating challenges that looks sure to weed out the sprinters from contention.

For strong finishers possessing powerful burst on hilly climbs, though, the inclusion of yet another steep climb is good news. Looking ahead to the 2014 season Gilbert welcomed the alteration of the Milan-San Remo parcours and said unequivocally that the revamped Milan-San Remo will be at the very summit of his personal list of priorities for the 2014 spring campaign.

“I was happy to see that Milan-San Remo is better for me and I will focus on this,” Gilbert said. “San Remo is a race I love and I would love to win. I’ve been on the podium a few times and I’m still convinced I can win this and now even more. I may have to adjust my preparations during the winter period in order to be at my peak condition for the Milan-San Remo, but the alteration has given me a lot of motivation. In fact, I was on a reconnaissance tour with [BMC team mate] Thor Hushovd after the announcement was made, and I think I can win this race. I don’t think a sprinter can win on this altered parcours.”

Prior to this year’s snow infested edition of the race, 2009 winner Mark Cavendish, now with Omega Pharma-Quick Step, was quoted as saying that the inclusion of the early climb of Le Manie had ruthlessly restricted the sprinters’ options of winning the race. Although Le Manie has now been erased from the course, Gilbert figures that the addition of Pompeiana makes the race even harder for the fast men and greatly improves his own prospects. Gilbert did single out a certain Slovak rider as an exception to keep a watchful eye on, though.

“The riders make the race, but if we climb that climb with real climbing speed, I don’t see any sprinters – apart from Sagan of course – being able to follow,” Gilbert said. “Sagan is the exception, because he can climb, sprint and even TT, but the other sprinters, I don’t see a chance for them. But Sagan is different, he will always be threat. Obviously you don’t wish for anyone to be struck by bad luck, but maybe that’s the only chance anyone will have of defeating Sagan in next year’s race” Gilbert added smilingly, his voice tinging with a distinctly audible professional admiration for a truly awe-inspiring rival.

Gilbert is fully aware that making the Milan-San Remo his main objective of the 2014 season will cause him to change the way he prepares during the winter break, but he voiced no objections. Rather, so infatuated is Gilbert by the prospect of winning La Primavera that he intends to hit his zenith in late March rather than during the Ardennes Classics in late April as has been his customary wont in recent years. Gilbert acknowledged that having already won the Ardennes Classics has motivated him to seek other objectives to pursue.

“I’ve won all of the Ardennes but I haven’t won San Remo. For me the big goal is to be at 100 per cent of my capacity at the start of San Remo, and if I have to sacrifice the Ardennes Classics, so be it” he said.

Gilbert even went as far as indicating that the rather early BMC Racing Team presentation for the forthcoming 2014 season had been moved forward in order to reduce the number of non-training days in January and to accommodate Gilbert’s pre Milan-San Remo preparations.

“It’s much better to take this time during a rest period than in a training period. Last year, we spent three days doing this before going to Australia for the Tour Down Under, so in the end, I lost six days [due to travel] and that’s a big loss in training for January,” said Gilbert, who hinted he was unlikely to return to the Tour Down Under in 2014 as a result of the time needed to adjust to jet lag and the extensive differences in temperatures, which Gilbert finds it increasingly difficult to cope with.

“It’s always been nice, but for me it’s harder and harder to fight the jet lag and the temperature differences. When I was younger it was easier.”