New world champion Rui Costa will probably race the Paris-Nice, the Ardennes Classics and the Tour de France. They are his major goals for the first part of the 2014 season. He will then try to defend his world title in Ponferrada, Spain in September.

Costa has signed with the Lampre-Merida this season, to ensure that he becomes a team leader.

Costa is expected to start the season at the Challenge Mallorca series in early February. He will then race in Portugal, at the Tour of the Algarve before targeting Paris-Nice. His next target will be the Ardennes Classics, where he placed ninth in Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2013. He then will prepare for the Tour de France, where he took two stages this year.

The Tour de Suisse, which Rui Costa has won twice, the Tour of Romandie and the Vuelta al País Vasco could be part of his builds-up program to the Ardennes and Tour de France.