At least for a year, Jurgen Van Den Broeck will shelve his Tour de France ambitions. "I will focus on the smaller stage races and the Giro and/or the Vuelta," the 31-year-old told Sporza at the Lotto-Soudal training camp in Spain. "It is mainly the team who introduced me to the idea of a different path."

It is no complete surprise that Jurgen Van Den Broeck won't be at the 2015 Tour de France. This season he arrived at the world's biggest race with big ambitions but just like last year, it was anything but a success. Van Den Broeck finished an anonymous Tour in 13th.

Back then, the question was asked whether it would make sense to do the race in 2015. Today Van Den Broeck and his team have given the answer. What was the main reason for the "no"? "First and foremost it was a proposal from the team to try a different approach," Van Den Broeck explains to Sporza.

"Every rider wants to the Tour, especially when the race will pass through Belgium (which is the case in 2015, ed.). But I am a member of the Lotto team and we have to find a solution together.

"Whether this is a liberation for me? I don't know. Again, everyone wants to ride the Tour, whether there is a love-hate relationship or not. But if the team decides to go to the Tour without a GC rider, I have to accept it.

"I've always said that I would try something else before the end of my career. But that's now a little earlier than expected. Next season I aim first at Tirreno-Adriatico and the Volta a Catalunya. Then I will ride the Giro . I won't ride the classics. My coach told me that the one-day races don't suit me. Then you need to focus on other races."

Strikingly, the news about Van den Broeck comes the day after it was officially announced that Tim Wellens will do the Tour. "You know that there comes a time," says Van den Broeck. "Even in ordinary life there are always people who can do something better. I've no problem with that. I've always said that I'm not the biggest talent and that Tim is. He deserves it."

Last year, the criticism of Van den Broeck after the Tour was hard. How has he reacted? "It was annoying that the question about my salary always came up. Everyone should look at themselves. I am proud that I showed in the Dauphiné that I can still be up there. But that was perhaps bad for the Tour."

Is Van Den Broeck already thinking about a return in 2016? "No idea, but I will gladly return to the Tour. I am not worn out. Will my non-participation in the Tour be big news in Belgium? I'm still in Spain. I don't read the Belgian newspapers."

Jurgen Van den Broeck at the Tour

2009: 13th (after the disqualification of Armstrong)
2010: 3rd (after the disqualifications of Contador and Menshov)
2011: abandoned after a crash
2012: 4th
2013: abandoned after a crash
2014: 13th