The 2022 Games has a new sponsor, a new color scheme for the team bus and kit (still big on orange), and some notable new additions, but as far as the goals and attitude of the Human Powered Health team, American fans can rest assured that it will remain pretty much the same as before American fans can rest assured.

"In terms of goals, we have pretty much the same targets and strategies as last year," said sport director Alex Sanz Vega.

"We should be as aggressive as possible overall, not just using the breakaway to win the race," he told Cycling News. We want to use Arvid de Klein as a sprinter again and support him as much as possible. With that in mind, we have also intensified his sprint training a bit."

True to his intentions, Human Powered Health racer Ben King entered the stage 1 breakaway in Valenciana. The move was eventually absorbed by GC powerhouse teams Movistar and Quick Step, but King still took the race's first mountains jersey.

And King's off-the-front move on Wednesday was not sporadic, according to Sans Vega.

"Everything went according to plan. There were a number of stars in the top 20 of yesterday's (Wednesday's) stage. It's tough for us to be at the top too.

"So I tried to go with the breakaway and then I wanted the mountains jersey. Ben is not only a great climber, but he can also sprint for points at the top of the mountains.

As for his race goals this season, Sans Vega, like almost all second division teams, knew that competing for an invite to the race would be tricky at best. However, tricky or not, whether or not a rider receives an invitation will greatly affect the way the rider and the team as a whole approach the season.

"You have to recognize that after seven years of coaching on the World Tour, you have become overly accustomed to that territory [race participation]. [You have to fight for the invited athletes. So far, performance manager Jonas Kearney and director Jonathan McCarty have been with the team much longer. I joined late, so they've been doing that all winter."

"But from what I've already seen, it's not so much of a problem for the very heavily funded Pro Conti (now officially designated as a UCI Pro Team, but most people call it by its former name), but for the Pro Conti "middle class" It's getting more and more difficult."

As for the races that Human Powered Health has decided to target, "There are very few races in the U.S. that are still left, like Maryland in September. Then there are the races that have already received invitations, like the Tour of Britain and the Tour de Suisse.

King, who won the KOM jersey in Valenciana, showed that Sans Vega's words were mere speculation as to how hard Human Powered Health intends to fight to maintain the highest possible profile.

"Valenciana is a very high-level race," King himself told Cycling News before stage 2. 'But to get a jersey like this means a positive start. But to get a jersey like this means a positive start."

"It was also the first day of racing for the team, so getting on the podium and showing off our colors to our new sponsors was not a bad thing. It is also a sign of our appreciation for the sport, the team staff, and all the people who work for us. On stage one, King said, "Wednesday was a hard, heavy day and I was averaging over 300 watts until I got caught."

"But it was a tough battle because the KOM jersey was really the only one I had. I just had to persevere to the end and trust that I could sprint to kick their asses."

February for King is, generally speaking, "a pretty heavy schedule. And in the second half of March, I want to jump in where I get the chance."

It may be a cliché, but King says being on an American team gives him more joy in his racing.

"Plus, with Chad Haga and Joey [Rosskopf] joining us this year and last year, we have even more World Tour experience."

"I've lived with them in Italy, and in 2013 and 2014 we rented an apartment in Italy.

"I don't have any specific goals for this year, but the style of this team is opportunistic and everyone has their day. Really, every day is an opportunity."

In the second stage of Valenciana, King's quest to retain the polka-dot jersey was again highlighted by a good run.

First, he and U.S. road race champion Rosskop made the break of the day. Then, King scored valuable points in the second and third classics, two-thirds of which were mountainous sections in the first half of the stage, to further solidify his overall lead before the breakaway was pulled back with around 15 km to go.

"When I started looking at the next few days and calculating the points, going today [Thursday] was almost a done deal as far as getting through the next few stages," King said after the Cycling News interview.

"If I hadn't gone today, there would have been a lot more riders in the points contention and I wouldn't have worn the jersey.

"This way we finished early and didn't have to put all our eggs in one basket for tomorrow [Friday].

King said he was very grateful for Rothkopf's support during the break. 'It was incredible to have him there. Everyone was in the front row [of the peloton] covering the moves. And then Joey slipped into the group of five and I was able to bridge the gap. It was a great day."

Looking ahead, King is already pulling out his calculator and figuring out what he needs to do. He now has a 30-point advantage over second-place Evenpoel, nearly triple, which should be more than enough for him to take the class win, even though Friday is the toughest day in the mountains.

"Unless there is a rider who wins every climb and leads on the finishing climb, even if they have not yet scored points doing so ...... Basically, you have to keep an eye on two or three guys. Basically, you have to keep an eye on two or three players.

"Having said that, I don't want to talk too soon because I have flashbacks to last year's Giro di Sicilia where I was wearing the mountain jersey until the last stage and then I lost it.

In any case, he said, "I'm very grateful to the team. I'll keep doing my best, but I'm not going to rest until it's over."