Belgium's Remco Evenepoel believes he can mount a serious challenge at next year's Tour de France, though he knows dethroning champion Tadej Pogacar will be no easy task.
The 25-year-old former Vuelta a Espana winner, who won Olympic gold in the road race and time trial at last year's Paris Games, will spearhead Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe's campaign alongside German Florian Lipowitz at cycling's biggest race.
The pair will have their work cut out for them as they look to win a first Tour de France for the German team, however, with Pogacar by far the favourite to win a record-equalling fifth title.
"I want to be better than him (Pogacar). That's very difficult, we all know that. But that's why I came here. To take those steps. To go for it, on it and over it," Evenepoel told Belgium's state-funded sports website Sporza in an interview published on Monday.
"That will take a lot of effort, but I'm very motivated, and I really needed this new step (joining Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) to completely break through a ceiling. I hope to be able to boom this year."
Evenepoel beat Pogacar to win the individual time trial title at the Cycling Road World Championships in September, but finished well behind the Slovenian when the pair crossed paths at the Giro di Lombardia just a few weeks later.
Asked if he could win the Tour de France, Evenepoel, who begins his season in Spain next month, said: "Yes."
"If everything continues to go well and if I can have a really good winter, good training camps and the points I'm looking for in the races in the spring," he added.
"If I can show in Catalonia that I am there to win, like I was in 2023 heading into the Giro d'Italia, then I definitely think I will be able to reach that level. Your foundation needs to be there before you can work on those high-intensity workouts, the real VO2 max workouts.
"That's where I can improve the most. It also makes sense: if Tadej attacks, I can keep up for a while, but not for too long. That's what I have to work on now."
Next year's Tour de France will begin in Barcelona on 4 July.