"I think having the new sponsor has brought a fresh motivation to the team" - Larry Warbasse reacts to Decathlon AG2R's outstanding performances at the start of 2024

Larry Warbasse will be back for a sixth round at the Giro d'Italia this May, but the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale team's breakaway specialist will have a new, more important goal this year - to help his teammate Ben O'Connor reach the final podium at the Italian grand tour.

"I think having the new sponsor, Decathlon coming in, has brought a fresh motivation to the team and everyone is excited," Warbasse told Cyclingnews.

"That started a good cycle, everybody is really happy and likes the equipment and the bikes, the engineers were at the training camps, sponsors have been really present, and there's good momentum. Then everyone has been going quite well from the gun and when you see all your friends winning, you think 'I can do it too'. It starts the ball rolling and, hopefully, we can keep it rolling here, too."

"So far this year, I've been performing really well as a teammate. I've done my job well and been there deep in the race, so that's what I would like to go on doing," he said.

Tadej Pogacar is a clear favourite for Giro d'Italia, but what about podium candidate O'Connor? "If we can get on the podium with Ben – I've never been part of a team in a Grand Tour podium - that'd be really cool. Plus if somewhere along the line I can be sneaking in a breakaway and going for a nice stage win, well, that'd be a dream season."