Peter Stetina revealed that the Tour of Guangxi will be his last race with Trek-Segafredo, ending his four-year relationship with the team. Stetina, an American, remained tight-lipped about his future, saying he had not yet announced his plans for 2020.

This time last year, Stetina was in a similar position, with his contract renewal with Trek not announced until the end of October. A year later, however, he seemed relaxed about his future, which had already been determined.

"Yeah, I'm leaving Trek," Stetina told Cycling News at the start of the second stage of the North Sea.

"I'm not ready to announce what will happen yet. But I won't be wearing Trek-Segafredo colors."

"I think we can make an announcement by the end of October."

Despite a long year of racing, from Australia in January to China in October, Stetina is enjoying the ride and says 2019 has been his most enjoyable year in Trek colors.

In addition to a full road program of 10 WorldTour races, including the Vuelta a España, the former mountain biker also hit the dirt this year. Stetina returned to the US twice for gravel races, joining a growing trend among pro riders: in June, she finished second in the Dirty Kanza, and two months later, fourth in the Leadville 100.

"It's been a really fun year," said Gerard. I had more fun than I've had in years. I had more fun this year than I've had in years: good level all year, good fitness, adventure racing, good Vuelta. It's been a good season.

"Gravel is like the new excitement on the American scene. I grew up mountain biking and have been riding off-road in the off-season and for training.

However, the fun isn't spreading to Stetina's team in 2019. The team is languishing near the bottom of the WorldTour wins standings with just 10 wins, just ahead of Team Sunweb, which is in last place in the WorldTour wins standings.

Giulio Ciccone's stage win at the Giro d'Italia was the bright spot of the season for much of the year, while Bauke Mollema's victory at Il Lombardia last week, with some help from Stetina, gave the team a much needed big win late in the year.

"We all turned it around," Stetina said.

"But sometimes you need momentum and motivation to make it work.

In Guangxi, Matteo Moschetti and John Degenkolb are expected to do even better, with sprint wins in the first two stages. Three more sprint stages lie ahead, and Stetina may also be in the hunt for a win in the hilltop finish of stage 4.

"We'll see what happens. Given that we've had so many sprint days, this is crazy." [but that's all I can do here, so I'll look at the mountain stages and see where we stack up. At the same time, I'm enjoying all the racing in the world and it's been a long season, so I just want to give it one last push.