The 27-year-old was won the first stage at the 2015 Abu Dhabi Tour and is targeting another victory in his new team jersey this season.

“My big goal is to win here (in Abu Dhabi) again. It would be really nice to win with this jersey,” he said.

“It’s important for us as we are the name of a nation. We are proud of this because we can bring this name around the world in races. We will try to make it possible to win with this name.”

The former Astana rider was joined by his new colleagues at the launch of the team in the capital last week, including South Africa’s Louis Meintjes, Slovenian Matej Mohoric, Italian duo Filippo Ganna, Rui Costa, and UAE rider Yousif Mirza.