It may seem very optimistic but could we be celebrating some long overdue British Classics success this season?

Last year saw some encouraging signs, not least on the cobbles where Team Sky’s Ian Stannard won the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Geraint Thomas was third at E3-Harelbeke having initiated the race-winning break.

Sir Bradley Wiggins, too, showed encouraging signs by bagging a top-ten spot alongside Thomas at Paris-Roubaix.

Bidding to join an elite list of riders to have won both the Tour de France and Paris-Roubaix, the Hell of the North and the Hour Record are likely to be Wiggins’ two major targets for the year.

Team Sky’s winter signings also paint an optimistic picture, with several acquisitions enhancing the team’s Classics prowess and providing strength in depth for the Grand Tours.

With less demand on the riders over the course of the season, a serious assault on the Classics could be in store and who is to say Stannard, Thomas, Wiggins or Scottish new boy Andy Fenn can’t spring a result or two in the spring?