Peter Kennaugh, the one neopro on Team Sky's roster this season, will make his professional road debut in the GP Cycliste la Marseillaise on 31 January.

The 20-year-old, third in the 'Baby Giro' and fourth in the World Under-23 Championships last season, is part of a seven-man line-up which also features John-Lee Augustyn, Michael Barry, Sylvain Calzati, Steve Cummings, Nicolas Portal and Morris Possoni.

Kennagh is then pencilled for four races in February - Etoile de Bessèges, the Tour du Haut Var, the GP dell'Insubria-Lugano and the GP di Lugano.

Learning curve

And Kennaugh can't wait to get started, saying: "For this year I see my role at Team Sky as being a domestique and just learning the ropes, learning from my teammates.

"It's a big step up and the professional team is a lot different to the amateur team but as long as I progress and improve I'll be happy.

"It's very exciting, the way the whole thing is set up. It's just so professional. Team Sky, it's quite special, the amount of thought and detail that goes into it. I can't wait to get on the road."

Cav inspiration

The youngster has already enjoyed plenty of success on the track and also knows exactly what is takes to reach the top in the pro ranks having trained and raced against fellow Manxman Mark Cavendish for several years.

Kennaugh is widely regarded one of the brightest talents from the latest wave of ultra-promising British riders and is looking forward to a busy 2010.

"I'm suited to hillier races but I'm obviously going to be racing in Belgium and France because first-year pros do a bit of everything," he said.

"I want to play a good role in helping the team and taking it step by step. I'm going to train the best I can and be 100% committed to the team and to my sport but you never know I might get a result somewhere along the line this year."

GP Cycliste la Marseillaise line-up: John-Lee Augustyn, Michael Barry, Sylvain Calzati, Steve Cummings, Peter Kennaugh, Nicolas Portal and Morris Possoni.

Etoile de Bessèges line-up: John-Lee Augustyn, Michael Barry, Sylvain Calzati, Steve Cummings, Peter Kennaugh, Nicolas Portal, Morris Possoni and Bradley Wiggins.

Tour du Haut Var line-up: Michael Barry, Sylvain Calzati, Dario Cioni, Chris Froome, Peter Kennaugh, Morris Possoni, Ben Swift and Davide Viganò.

GP dell'Insubria-Lugano line-up: John-Lee Augustyn, Sylvain Calzati, Dario Cioni, Chris Froome, Peter Kennaugh, Morris Possoni and Ben Swift.

GP di Lugano line-up: John-Lee Augustyn, Sylvain Calzati, Dario Cioni, Chris Froome, Peter Kennaugh, Morris Possoni and Ben Swift.