After a promising 2020 season ended in disappointment when he broke his wrist midway through the Tour de France, Bauke Mollema is confident this year's campaign will be different. His 2021 season will be built around the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France double.

Mollema will carry the Giro and Tour double in both 2017 and 2019, finishing seventh and fifth in the Giro and winning stage 15 in the 2017 Tour; in 2021 Nibali will lead the team in Italy, with the July hierarchy yet to be determined.

With the Tokyo Olympics, also a goal, coming less than a week after the Tour, it is not hard to imagine that allowing a week between the two Grand Tours for recovery and preparation would make the goals of both events more complicated. Morema, however, does not necessarily see it that way.

"I really like doing the double," Morema said at the team's training camp in Spain earlier this week. 'I don't know if it's harder or more complicated this year. I need to rest after the Giro and I need two weeks of training before the Tour starts."

"I wanted to run two Grand Tours this year and I think this is a great combination for that. I'm really looking forward to going back to Italy. I have good memories and so far it has been a good race for me."

"In the Giro, my own goal is not the overall classification, so Vincenzo will be the leader there. I want to help the team and help him as much as possible. I don't know about the Tour yet. It's still early and it depends on how we both come out of the Giro. It's a challenge and I'm looking forward to it."

The team will be without Richie Porte again this year, but he is the Grand Tour leader and last year he scored the team's best Tour de France podium since the Schleck brothers finished second and third in 2011, their first year.

Morema said that Porte's return to Ineos Grenadiers after a five-year absence does not significantly change his own future chances; the two were co-leaders in last year's Tour.

"I don't think it will be a big change for me," he said. It's been great to ride with Richie. It was great to ride with Richie. Unfortunately, I wasn't there at the Tour last year because I crashed two weeks later. I still have a lot of other goals besides the Grand Tour and a lot of races I like, so I don't think it will change much."

One of them is the delayed Tokyo Olympic road race, which will be held just five days after Paris on a tough course around Mt. Morema competed in Rio 2016, finishing in 17th place, the best finish among Dutch riders. He also won the race immediately after the Tour, winning the 2016 Clasica San Sebastián, and has been on the podium three more times.

In fact, he believes that travel and jet lag are the biggest obstacles to his Olympic bid, rather than proximity to the Tour. In any case, many other athletes will be in a similar situation.

"The Tour won't be a big problem," he said. I think the Tour will be the best preparation before the Olympics."

"The only problem, of course, is transportation. I would have to go directly from Paris to Japan, which is not ideal. When you are in the Tour, the level is so high and you do so many races that I don't think you need to do so much in the five days before the Olympics.

"I've always done that when I race in San Sebastian after the Tour and I've had a lot of good results there. The only difference is the travel and the jet lag. "

The Ardennes Classic is also scheduled for early in the new year. It remains to be seen how Lombardia, another favorite, will fit into his plans.

"I'm going to the Ardennes," he said. The Ardennes is another big target and I want to get results there, and I'll have a break in March for Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico."

"I will start the season very early in February at the Etoile des Besseges in France and then do a lot of races in Provence and Haut Var in France. I started training really early because I finished the season earlier than in other years.