Mathew Hayman enjoyed arguably the strongest season of his career in 2011 as he combined stirring performances in the Classics with his road captain expertise.

The undisputed highlight was the season-ending victory at Paris-Bourges, as the strong rouleur demonstrated the belief to not only attack, but hold on to take the bunch sprint in the pouring rain. That victory marked the first success for Hayman since the Commonwealth Games in 2006.

He says: "It was nice and unexpected. I guess every race is five hours and anything can happen. But this particular race I was in an early breakaway and I didn’t think it was going to last. At different times I thought we’d get brought back and I never really gave myself a chance. To be caught in the last 400metres and still to be able to win was amazing.

"I had two real peaks last year. The first one was in the Classics and the second one was towards the end of the season at the World Championships and that race as well as Paris-Tours where I was on a bit of special form for a few weeks."

The Australian was handed a freer role in the classics and did not disappoint – putting together a strong spring campaign with third at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and fourth at Dwars Door Vlaanderen before snatching 10th spot at Paris-Roubaix.

He explains: "The Classics have always been races that I’ve loved doing in my many years at Rabobank. It was nice to have that added pressure and it kind of took me back to my younger days where you are riding a bit more for the win. I enjoyed it and I don’t think I did too badly either. It was nice of the team to put that confidence in me and I think I paid that back."

With such a strong classics campaign under his belt Hayman will be raring to go once things kick off again in 2012 in a bid to add yet more victories to his palmares.

A fearsome addition to any race roster, Hayman has drawn praise from all his team-mates due to his strong and selfless riding throughout the season, not to mention a loyalty that saw him spend 10 years at Rabobank before joining Team Sky in 2010.

“The team have only been strengthened since last year. Obviously with Mark’s [Cavendish] arrival that is going to create a lot of opportunities to win races. But I don’t think it will become a team with just one rider winning races. The riders that are already here are really motivated. It’s a really nice group of riders and a good atmosphere. I think we’ll continue to feed off each other and everybody will want to have a bit of it.”