With just three days to go until the end of this season and his tenure at Trek-Segafredo, John Degenkolb is looking ahead to next year, the first of a two-year deal with Belgium's Lot Soudal.

The move comes three years after Degenkolb spent time with the American team, where he won five races, including a stage win at the 2018 Tour de France. Before the start of stage 4 of the Tour of the Broad West, Degenkolb said that while the racing is still on, he is excited about what awaits him in the next two seasons.

"Yeah, I'm thinking about next year," he said. 'These next two years are going to be exciting and having a new team, a good team around me, is a new big challenge in my career. I'm looking forward to it."

"Obviously it all depends on whether or not I can make it to the Classic and whether or not I have a very balanced team.

Degenkolb will be joined by Paris-Roubaix winner Philippe Gilbert to form a veteran dream duo. On the sprint side, three-time Tour de France stage winner Caleb Yuan is the main man for the lot.

The presence of both leaders is a plus for Degenkolb, he said, and the expected division of responsibilities next season will take some pressure off him.

"Having another sprinter, Caleb Yuan, will relieve the pressure of bunch sprinting. He will also be competing in the Classics with Gilbert. I think it will work out very well."

Degenkolb's farewell season with Trek was not the best of his career, with only a win at the Tour de la Provence in February, Ghent-Wevelgem and Eschborn-Frankfurt and a runner-up finish at the Tour de la Provence in February, Degenkolb was one step away from victory.

The 30-year-old admits that while he personally did not have a great season, his time with the team was all positive.

"It was a year of ups and downs," he said. It wasn't a fantastic year." The Vuelta drained a lot of energy and now I'm happy that the season will be over soon.

"I've had a great time at Trek. I love everyone on the team and the last few years have been a great experience."

When Ryan Mullen interjected, "Tell him how much I'm going to miss him," Degenkolb shot back with a joke about the Irishman snoring.

Paris-Roubaix, Degenkolb's most familiar race and perhaps his two most famous victories, was strongly etched in his mind when asked about the past three years and his two seasons with his new team.

"Of course, the biggest highlight was winning a stage at Roubaix in the Tour de France. I think it's one of the greatest victories of my career.

"Roubaix is basically my favorite race, so it's always one of my biggest personal goals. If you've won this race once, you have a great passion for this race. Obviously, we haven't talked about team goals for next year yet, but it's definitely going to be one of my big goals."