Referring to the overall number of victories taken throughout a season, Omega Pharma-Quick Step has been unbeaten for last two consecutive years. The Belgian team recorded a ceaseless winning streak from January to October in 2013, at almost half of those cases thanks to their newly signed sprinting star Mark Cavendish, and defended their Team Time Trial crown at the World Championships held in Florence.

However, the Omega Pharma-Quick Step manager Patrick Lefevere hopes to improve on those numbers, as the Belgian squad was significantly strengthened by the transfers that should be considered as the most hauled moves of the winter, and is expected to be the one to beat it 2014.

Lefevere believes that Tom Boonen will once again hit his top disposition after his 2013 season was disrupted by crashes and persistent injuries, eventually forcing him to bring his season to an end due to a saddle sore, after he claimed his maiden victory in Tour the Wallonnie in July. Supported by strong riders willing to take advantage of his undisputable experience in the likes of Niki Terpstra, Zdenek Stybar and possibly Jan Bakelants, OPQS manager expects Boonen to have an extremely successful spring campaign.

Now lower expectations are connected with Mark Cavendish, especially regarding to his performance in the Tour de France next edition, starting on the sprinter’s home ground. Lefevere has made a serious investments to reunite the Manxman with his best ever lead-out man Mark Renshaw, and the duo enriched by the experience of Alessandro Petacchi is expected to transform into what Cavendish himself described as the best position the sprinter could ever find himself in.

"For the next season we would like to continue the winning mood we had in 2013 and of course try and do even better," said Lefevere at the team’s media day at its training camp in Calpe, Spain.

"Tom Boonen will be back and I have a feeling he is on the right track to return to his previous level. Tom will also find a group of motivated and strong riders for these kinds of races, for example Zdenek Štybar and Niki Terpstra.

“Mark Cavendish is in his second year with OPQS, so he knows the riders and the team he has around him. He will once again be a leader of the team and for sure he is ready to have another great season after an already outstanding 2013.”

After his previous season has prematurely ended last July, Boonen has undergone an exceptionally long and thorough preparation period. Now the renowned Belgian cyclist feels ready to kick-off the new season with great expectations, and admits to feel the hunger of racing after many months dedicated to trainings.

"I'm very hungry," Boonen said. "I've already had a lot of time on the bike since I started in September, so I also had a long winter but it was good for my condition. But that doesn't take away that I haven't raced since July, so I want to start racing again and see where I am in a race situation.

“It's always different in a race than during training so I want to start racing as soon as possible,” he continued.

“As for training, it's gone very good. It's sublime. Until now there have been no real worries so that automatically means things are going really well. I'm very happy at the moment and can't wait to start my season at Tour de San Luis, a race that brought me luck in 2012 and opened one of my best seasons.”

“However my focus for the first part of the season is on the Spring Classics,” Boonen added. “Everybody knows what those races mean to me and how I feel about them. I will do my best to be in top condition for those races and once the Classics are done I will then consider the second part of my season."

Claiming 20 victories throughout one year, including respectable 5 stages won at the Giro d’Italia, 3 at the Tour the France, and with an overall victory in the points classification at the Italian Grand Tour sounds rather impressive, but if you were Mark Cavendish, every single defeat is what the public opinion would recall afterwards.

Still, British sprinter claims, that considering all the circumstances regarding to starting everything from scratch in the new team – 2013 season was the first one at the Omega Pharma-Quick Step for Cavendish, and especially tweaking his new lead-out train, he is satisfied with his most recent achievements.

While it is no secret that 2014 season’s main objective would be Tour the France, with his special focus on the first stage finishing in his mother’s home town of Harrogate, offering him one of the last opportunities to finally wear the maillot jaune, Cavendish is excited to make a victorious come back to the event with a strengthened OPQS roster.

"For sure the Tour de France is my biggest goal for the season," Cavendish said during one of his interviews. "As always I have to go and compete on that stage and win consistently.

“We've got an incredibly strong team this year for that, in fact, we've almost got too many riders to choose from,” the British champion explained. “We're in the best position. We've got so many riders to make a formation of nine from to win at the Tour.

“I'm excited to go, especially since it starts in the UK again,” he added. “It's the second time in my career that it starts in the UK. In 2007 when it started in London, cycling wasn't even popular and the amount of people out watching the race was incredible. So with the profile of cycling in the UK now, I think with the Tour de France starting there again it will be beyond words. I'm super excited, especially with the first stage finishing in my mother's hometown of Harrogate. The finishing straight is a straight I know very well. I spent a lot of time there as a child and hopefully it provides a bunch sprint. I'd like a chance to win the yellow jersey. I haven't yet worn that and it'd be nice to wear that again.

“I'm also super excited to have Mark Renshaw back for my leadouts,” Cavendish concluded, referring his being reunited with the Australian who played such a big part in his success at HTC-Highroad. “He's a really good friend of mine and one of the most gifted leadout men in the peloton.”

Besides Boonen and Cavendish, Lefevere has high hopes for many of Omega Pharma-Quick Step’s other stars in 2014.

“Tony Martin will be a guarantee for the team in terms of victories and quality of wins,” Lefevere said. “He showed this year he is one of the most consistent riders throughout the season. He will be there once again in 2014 to even improve an already impressive list of results.

“Of course we also have a few young guys who are growing up, such as Matteo Trentin and Michal Kwiatkowski, and we even have some newcomers we will count on to improve our visibility and our impact in cycling,” Lefevere added. “With Rigoberto Urán Urán we improve our potential for the grand tours, particularly this year at the Giro d'Italia. We can also count on riders like Wout Poels and Thomas De Gendt who will also be there and strong. Of course we also have Jan Bakelants, a guy that showed last year what he is able to do. We definitely have a good team built to perform all season long.”