In its first two years, Orica-GreenEDGE has been known as a team for stage wins, classics and sprints and has had little impact on the GCs in the stage races. However, the team still plans to put greater emphasis on the overall standings and is hopeful that they can sign Richie Porte when his Sky contract expires.

When the ambitious Orica-GreenEDGE team was launched, the management made no secret of the fact that it planned to build up the structure gradually. As a point of departure, the team would not target the GCs in the grand tours and would put its emphasis on the sprints and the classics and would take aim at stage wins in the multi-day events.

However, the team also made it clear that the long-term objective is to become a contender for the win in the three-week races as well and after two highly successful years, the team is taking its first small steps in this direction. The signings of Colombian climber and former Tour de l'Avenir winner Johan Esteban Chaves and Italian champion Ivan Santaromita is a clear indication that the Italian team is trying to metamorphose into a more versatile team.

While Australia's only ProTeam has not had a focus on the GCs, the country has some of the most talented stage racers in their ranks. Cadel Evans is a multiple grand tour podium finisher and former Tour de France winner and in 2013 Richie Porte proved that he is a potential grand tour winner, with the Sky rider set to give the Giro d'Italia a shot in 2014.

While Orica-GreenEDGE have international riders, it is no secret that it is first and foremost an Australian team. Hence, it is no wonder that the team would like to have Porte as their leader when they make their first steps into the world of riding grand tours for the GC.

"We cop it a bit for not having a dedicated GC rider," sports director Matt White told Cyclingnews. "We are realistic and know going into most tours we're not riding for general classification. We've made no secret that we wanted Richie Porte before he resigned with Team Sky last year and we're still hopeful we can get him in the future, but we've proven with our results that we can win – and win often."

After winning the Paris-Nice, Porte extended his contract with Sky and will stay there until the end of the 2015 season. Last week he made it clear that he will need to find a new team when his contract expires, if he wants to become a leader in the grand tours. This could open the door for Orica-GreenEDGE.

While the team have signed a few climbers for the coming season, the team is still mostly one for the sprints and stage wins. However, the team will slightly change it focus when it comes to sprinting.

Until now, they have built a traditional lead-out train to support Matthew Goss in the big bunch sprints but the Australian has had little success, with his 2013 season being disastrous. With Goss being a much more versatile rider than just a pure sprinter, the team will focus on what it describes as stages for Peter Sagan.

"I believe we are in a bit of a transition period because realistically our sprint group has not worked as well as we would have liked," White said. "This is not a knock on our talent, as we firmly believe that while Gossy is never going to outsprint (Mark) Cavendish, (Marcel) Kittel or (Andre) Greipel, he's proven on the longer races such as Milan San Remo and stages of the Giro d'Italia that he can be quite effective.

"Gossy is never going to be the guy that wins 10 races in a season, but if we do our job correctly and give him the support he needs, he can win the big races, and we expect him to do just that this year."

The team already has a number of talented sprinters like Goss, Michael Matthews, Aidis Kruopis and Leigh Howard in their ranks but the big name for the future may be sprinting sensation Caleb Ewan. In 2013, the Australian impressed in the U23 ranks, winning multiple stages in the Tour de l'Avenir and finishing 4th at the world championships, and he will ride as a stagiaire in the second half of 2014 before turning pro with Orica-GreenEDGE in 2015.

"While we may not be able to go head-to-head in pure sprints at the moment, we are excited about Caleb Ewan, who is a promising young prospect that could play a significant role by season's end," White said. "In the meantime, we have targeted the races we can win and are going to put a lot of our energy into winning them."

In 2013 Orica-GreenEDGE won 33 races spread over 16 riders.