Sprint expert Mark Renshaw is already embracing the pressure of trying to guide Decathlon CMA CGM's star signing, Olav Kooij, and his new lead-out train towards stage victories and a green jersey at the Tour de France.
Officially starting his role on January 1, Renshaw has been brought across from XDS Astana to guide the French team's latest project, built around their signing of Dutch fastman Kooij from Visma-Lease a Bike.
Joining Kooij is a whole host of fast-paced riders who are being put together as his train for the upcoming season, including the likes of Cees Bol, Tobias Lund Andresen and Robbe Ghys. Renshaw's job is to manage that group and deliver them to that aforementioned goal of the Tour with the best shot at winning.
Speaking to Indeleiderstrui.nl at Decathlon's team presentation in December, The Australian described the change of employer as "a big learning curve, as I just said: as a rider, it's easier because you change teams often during your career. As a staff member, you don't see many staff members change teams.
"So it's about learning new procedures, new protocols. I think my role here is clear: I'll primarily be running the program with Olav Kooij, and the goal is to win stages at the Tour de France and go for the green jersey. So I'll primarily be running a racing program with Olav."
Kooij has become one of the top four sprinters in the world these past few seasons, unofficially ranking probably only slightly behind Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck). However, he hasn't yet made his Tour debut, unlike the others.
A first attempt will come with a lot of hype and expectation, but Renshaw is already with the group he has in front of him, with seven months now to race and rehearse just how they'll try to do it come July.
"The most important thing was the opportunity to work with pure, top-class, world-famous sprinters. And those are Tobias Lund Andresen, Olav Kooij, Cees Bol, and Robbe Ghys... we really have a lot of guys who, I think, are among the top in the sprint world," added Renshaw to the Dutch publication.
"So the opportunity to work with these guys, and not aim for a top 5 or top 10, but for victory. It's more pressure, of course, but I love it... I always say, there's a saying, pressure makes diamonds, and I love it."
Renshaw highlighted how there could be seven sprint opportunities for Kooij to take a maiden Tour win and add to his two Grand Tour victories from the Giro d'Italia, but before any of that, a culture of trust and communication needs to be cultivated between the sprint core.
For the moment, his 2026 race programme is due to start at the UAE Tour, before making several appearances at the Classics such as Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Paris-Roubaix. After that, it's only the Tour that's been guaranteed, with room for several preparation races where that sprint train will be sharpened up.
"For Olav, the plan is clear. We know where he'll start the season. We know he'll ultimately be riding the Tour de France in July, aiming to win stages," said Renshaw.
"How we get there will be a learning process in the first half of the year, and it's all about improving communication and trust in each other."
Having guided Mark Cavendish to many a stage win during his racing career and then helped the Manx Missile break the record for Tour de France stage wins, which he held alongside Eddy Merckx, with a 35th together at Astana, Renshaw has long been one of the best in the business at guiding sprinters to the line.
There's no guarantee that Kooij will bring Decathlon the success that they've paid a lot of money to try and achieve, but there's few better they could have asked for to try and get him there, too.
