Matteo Trentin believes that he and Greg Van Avermaat can complement each other in a successful partnership on the 2020 CCC team.

Trentin, whose only one-day wins came in two seasons with Mitchelton-Scott at the European Championships and Trofeo Matteotti, will join the Olympic champions in the CCC next year.

Both are somewhat isolated within their respective teams in this year's Classic, but Trentin is confident that they can help each other and compete in numbers as effectively as their former team, Deceuninck-Quickstep, did.

"For both of us, that's a nice advantage. The last couple of years I was always alone in the finale, so now that we are on the same team we can complete each other," Trentin told reporters at last weekend's Saitama Criterium in Japan.

"In a sprint of five, six, or ten riders, I might be faster, but he can decide to race early and use me as the one who stays behind. Maybe he'll stay away and no one will want to bring me back for free."

"After all, that's how Quick Step wins," he added, citing Zdenek Stybar's victory in this year's E3 Bink Bank Classic, in which teammate Bob Jungels single-handedly ran the last 7km." If you look at how Stybar won that race, he only pulled it off the moment he won the sprint."

Trentin had hoped to be part of that kind of racing dynamic at Mitchelton Scott, but an injury to Luke Durbridge, who had a great spring 2017 campaign, left Trentin the sole leader. He was tempted to stay on for two more years and had offers on the table, along with approaches from many other teams, but decided to move to CCC.

"At Mitchelton, I never had a chance to race 100% as a team in the Classics," he said.

"But Mitchelton is moving to a GC-oriented team.

"The CCC made a proposal and it took a long time to decide. There were other parties involved, but after discussions, it came down to two choices: stay or go to CCC, and I decided to move."

"I was not a fan of the CCC, and I was not a fan of the GC, but I was not a fan of the GC.

With six wins, Trentin won as many races in 2019 as the entire CCC team, but he is not worried about the quality of the team he is joining or his responsibilities within the setup: before BMC ended its sponsorship and merged with the CCC Splendi team, the team lost half its The team lost players, but has strengthened its roster for 2020 by signing Ilnur Zakarin, Jan Hilt, and Fausto Masnada, among others.

"You have to look at their backgrounds," says Trentin.

"The players who could have left for a safer chance are gone, and only Greg, (Michael) Schaal, (Fran) Ventoso, and a few others remain.

"It's always difficult when two teams merge late in the season, but I think they're already rebuilding themselves."

Trentin won six times in 2019, but the only victory he described as of the highest quality was his solo ride to the gap on stage 17 of the Tour de France. It was better than his first campaign with Mitchelton-Scott, but he could not escape the frustration as he finished on the small podium 15 times and in the top 10 22 more times. Of course, second place at the World Championships was a sore point. Until Mads Pedersen showed his strength, he was the more dominant player on the home straight.

"I finished in the top 10 many times this year. Especially when you have a chance to be on the podium or win, that's what you go for, not eighth place," Trentin said.

"The only thing I wasn't happy with this season was the Classic. I was always on the podium, but never on the podium. Milan-San Remo I was there, but in the end I couldn't do anything, and Ghent-Wevelgem I was there, but in the end I couldn't do anything. Amstel was there, but in the end nothing happened. Let's hope that nothing will turn out to be something."

Trentin can't name any specific improvements, but hopes that one day, everything will fall into place.

"Legs, luck, momentum, everything is going to get a little bit better. In this kind of cycling, everything has to be perfect.

"If we can be as consistent as we were this year, that's already pretty good. But my main goal for next year is to have less top-10 finishes and more wins.