The 2013 season will be Servais Knaven’s third as a Sport Director and comes on the back of two successful campaigns calling the shots from the team car.

Knaven joined Team Sky in 2011 after 17 years as a rider which saw him win the 2001 Paris-Roubaix and claim a fine breakaway victory at the 2003 Tour de France.

He hit the ground running during his first season in charge by presiding over victories at Bayern-Rundfahrt, Vattenfall Cyclassics and Eneco Tour, and backed those up in 2012 by playing his part in 20 further successes.

The Dutchman was in the lead car for the results at Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne, Tirreno-Adriatico and the Tours of Denmark and Britain, and also aided Sean Yates during Bradley Wiggins’ winning streak at the Tour de Romandie, Criterium du Dauphine and Tour de France.

Looking back on a sensational 2012, Knaven said: “It was really nice to be part of. To look back to the Tour de France and the way we worked towards it earlier in the season makes me very proud.

“I’d like to take that same approach into the Classics now. We want to improve in those major one-day races because we have yet to win one so far.

“We’ve really upped our preparation for them over the winter, and our targeted training regime started as soon as the squad came back from their end-of-season break.

“The guys are really up for it and everyone in the team is really excited about the prospect of taking one of cycling’s biggest one-day titles.

“It’s a nice project for me to work on because I specialised in those types of races as a rider and I can teach the guys a lot about the best way to approach them. When the time comes as well, I’ll be looking to give them some good advice on the road which will give them the best chance of taking a victory.”