Lawrence De Plus, who joined Ineos Grenadiers for 2021, said he will not only be working for a number of big names in the team next season, but will also get his own chance.

The Belgian was expected to play a domestique role in a British team that boasts four Grand Tour winners - Egan Bernal, Richard Carapas, Geraint Thomas, and Tao Geoghegan Hart - and other top-class leaders. He might have been expected to play a domestique role. But he told Sporza (open in new tab) that there are races where he can go for his own results. The Ardennes Classic is one of them.

"My role is not what everyone thinks it is. I have ambitions. I have an agreement with the team that I will follow the leading group in the Grand Tours. In certain races I will be able to take my own chances."

"The Ardennes Classics is a race close to my heart. The Ardennes Classic is close to my heart. No other race is as close to my heart as ......." He said.

"When I was allowed to wear the Ineos kit for the first time on January 1, I was so happy. It was an adrenaline rush and I look forward to shining this year as much as I did in 2019."

The 25-year-old from the Netherlands will move on after two years with Jumbo Visma and a 2020 season to forget. De Plas suffered a hip injury that limited him to four days of racing in the season affected by COVID-19.

The interrupted season was a disaster, even if he did get a good send-off from the Dutch team after a 2019 season in which he won the Bink Bank Tour and was Stephen Kruijswijk's top domestique in the Tour de France.

"It was a bit of a disappointment," he said. 'The whole season was crammed into three months because of the blockade. The buttock injury before the restart was very inconvenient.

"It was nice to finally race some more. I was able to experience a team victory in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Thanks to Logrich's victory, we were able to say goodbye to Jumbo Visma in a good way. Otherwise, things would have turned sour."

Now, de Plus is looking forward to a fresh start, and after DeTuning Quick-Step and Jumbo Visma, he is looking forward to working with the top teams in the cycling world.

"It's been a good winter. I worked on the muscles around my hip. We had a good camp last month in Gran Canaria and this week we left for Gran Canaria again."

"I had a very good talk with (Ineos coach) Dave Brailsford. This team has won most of the important Grand Tours in the last 10 years. They know how to build racers, so it was fascinating and an honor that they were interested in me."

"It's a team I've always respected. My brother worked on the service track and a friend of mine was a mechanic. I know that everything is super fine there."

"[The team virtual meeting] was a lot of fun. Luke Rowe and Geraint Thomas were the 'godfathers'. They baptized us. We threw shots back and forth and sang Christmas carols."