BMC Racing Team rider Nathan Van Hooydonck acknowledges his chances of winning a Dubai Tour stage are pretty slim but said he is keen to show his qualities to the rest of the world.

This is a special year for Van Hooydonck with the 22-year-old competing in his first full UCI WorldTour season with the Swiss outfit, having competed for their Development Team.

It will not be an easy start for the Belgian with two-time winner and defending champion Marcel Kittel and 2015 winner Mark Cavendish among the star riders making up a strong field. However, Van Hooydonck remains undaunted.

“I’m not a sprinter so I can’t say I can win a stage as I will be aiming too high,” he told Sport360 during an interaction organised by Tag Heuer, team sponsors of BMC and official timekeeper of Dubai Tour.

“But I want people to remember that I competed at the Dubai Tour. I just want to go with the rest of the riders in the peloton and try to attack. That is of course if my legs allow it and my condition is good enough. I trained really hard in pre-season and I want to prove myself.”

The highlight of Van Hooydonck’s short career is a win at the 2015 Belgian National Under-23 Road Race. He wants to build on that result with BMC.

“It’s very special,” he said. “I’ve been looking forward to this moment for a very long time. I’m really looking forward to the season by starting here in Dubai and then Oman.

“It’s a good race to start the season as the stages are not too hard or long. It’s a lot different than other races in Europe where conditions can be really bad.”