This year Wout Poels will focus on the Tour de France and the Olympics. The Dutch Sky rider will skip thee Giro d'Italia, albeit reluctantly.

"I hate it that I won’t go to the Giro, especially since the Giro will start in the Netherlands this year," says 28-year-old Poels in Langs de Lijn En Omstreken. This year the Italian race does not fit into his schedule.

Poels who is now with Team Sky in Mallorca, will again be a key support rider for Chris Froome in the Tour. "It is a pleasure to help him, but I still have ambitions I want to be leader in a race like the Giro or Vuelta."

Poels does not ask himself whether he should stay with Team Sky to his its ambitions. "At Sky, I have enough opportunities to ride for myself. The chances will come."

"The idea is to make 2016 an even better season than last year," he added in an interview with Wieler Revue. "I will start my season at Mallorca and then I'm going to ride the Ruta del Sol as a leader, hopefully followed by Tirreno-Adriatico and the Tour of Catalonia. In April, I want to get selected for the Olympics in Rio di Janeiro by riding well at the hilly classics.

The slender climber had hoped to start as captain in the Giro d'Italia.

"I've played with that thought and talked about it with the team. But when they sign a rider like Mikel Landa, it's of course a slightly different story. You simply must wait for your chance.”

“To go to the Tour with Chris again is not bad either,” he added. "Then we will see after the season if I get the chance to be leader in the Giro or the Vuelta a España. That is one of my personal goals in my career.”

For now, Rio is a big goal.

“I have already discussed this with [national coach] Johan Lammerts. I just need to rider well and show that I am one of the best four Dutch riders. But if I am fit, it should be no problem.”