Stars such as Tadej Pogachar, Wout van Aert, and Julien Alaphilippe have broken away from the era of strict specializations and resurrected as "do-it-all" riders who can do anything: sprint, time trial, mountains, hills, cobbles, and more.

At the top level, the days of the best riders being pigeonholed into one narrow specialty seem to be over. For example, Filippo Ganna said this year that he is broadening his scope beyond time trials to include an uphill sprint at the Tour de la Provence and a role as team leader in Milan-San Remo.

These days, more and more riders are acquiring new weapons and broadening their horizons. Cofidis sprinter Max Valscheidt is one such rider, who in recent years has focused on time trials and is now able to compete with the best in the discipline.

Last year, the 1.99-meter-tall German finished sixth in the time trial at the Giro d'Italia, fifth at the European Championships, and 11th at the World Championships in Bruges, beating Jos Van Emden, Nelson Oliveira, and Remi Cavagna. Later that week, he was also part of the gold medal-winning German TTT relay team.

"Last year, I was able to run at a level that allowed me to do well in the time trial.

"Maybe the year before, but last year I really focused on the material and the positions. I think my sprinting ability is the same as before, but I was able to raise my level as a rider a little bit."

"Of course, I will continue to work hard for that, and this year I want to do well in the time trial, and I have my sights set on All-Japan, Europe, and World Championships."

The mix of sprint and time trial is an odd combination, the explosive anaerobic power required for the former seemingly at odds with the threshold effort of the latter. Warscheid, however, manages to maintain that balance.

Warscheid said that Victor Kampenaerts, a time trial-turned-cobblestone classic, encouraged him to tackle this discipline.

"I use the same values in the gym as before. In fact, this year I set a new squat record in the winter.

"But I've struggled a little bit with climbing the past couple of years, so maybe I've been too busy improving my climbing.

"So of course that's not my specialty, but I've been able to take some steps and now have a general level of anaerobic threshold that allows for good time trials. Of course, if there are corners and it's a little bit explosive, that lends itself to my sprinting ability as well.

"Actually, Victor Campenaerts was the catalyst. He asked me why I didn't do time trials. And I think I needed a little bit of energy from the outside to do that."

"I was very happy to be able to do that.

Valscheid added that his new skills also give him a chance to run for himself. At last year's Giro d'Italia, he assisted Giacomo Nizzolo in the sprint and took his own chance in the time trial that ended the race.

This season, Warscheid, Campenaerts, and Nizzolo are scattered across the World Tour following the dissolution of Qhubeka-NextHash.

Campenaerts helped to boost Lot Soudal's Classic, while Nizzolo led the sprint train for Israel's Premier Tech.

"I think I paced myself well here," said Nitzolo. Of course, early in the season you have to make some adjustments." I need to get to know everyone, including the mechanics and soigneurs, but I get along with everyone in a good way.

"Generally yes," he replied. But when I talk to players who have been with the team longer, like Kenneth Van Bilsen, they tell me that the team is more open to international ways of working."

"And I think our level has gone up quite a bit. But of course the team culture is still very French in terms of language. But other than that I think we are a World Tour team."