As the "Rockgarden King", you are the best technical mountain biker in the cross-country field. Do you also have these skills on a road bike and are now showing Fabian Cancellara and Peter Sagan how to ride a road bike?
We'll see if I'm also a good technician on the road. It's not about riding up to the best and being right at the front. First and foremost, I want to challenge myself and learn something new. I generally like cycling as a whole. I used to ride downhill, now I like enduro racing as well as cross-country and now I can develop further with this opportunity.

In cross-country, your strengths lie in power, explosiveness and technique. Where do you think your strengths lie in road racing?
That's difficult to say. I have more of a classics profile. I think I particularly like climbs that aren't too long, but the route profile shouldn't be too flat either. On the road, I'll have to find out and see how I react to this new stimulus.

Will you change your training for these two tours?
I have already changed that. I'm training more for long distances and stage races - not just because of the road, but also because of the Cape Epic, which I'm ambitiously tackling this year together with the South African Philip Buys. These experiences are important for me to know how I react to them. It will be exciting to see whether the training and the tours also have an influence on the cross-country races and whether I lose my speed as a result or not.

If you achieve good results on your side trip, you'll probably soon have a lucrative offer from a Pro Tour team on the table. Would you still remain loyal to the sport of mountain biking?
Until the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016 for sure. After all, I'm still missing that one medal and my goal is to win it. I don't know what will happen after that. Maybe I'll get tired of cross-country and ride enduro races or switch to the road - or end my career - but certainly not before 2016.

What role will you have within Team Orica-Green Edge at the Tour de Suisse?
Since around 80 percent of the Orica team riders will be going to the Tour de France and using the Tour de Suisse as their final preparation, it looks like I'll be able to ride the Tour de Suisse freely. But that could turn out differently, as the strategy could suddenly change during the race. But I'm also open to what's in store for me. Working as a helper would definitely also be an interesting experience.

What is your goal at the Tour de Suisse?
I certainly want to show my best side and try something on one stage or another. However, I don't have a precisely defined goal. The time trial in particular will be something completely new for me and I don't know how well I'll do there. That's why I'll do my best and take each day as it comes.

Are you afraid of mass crashes in the Peleton?
It can happen and if there is a crash, I can only hope that nothing worse happens. You shouldn't expect the worst, after all, something can happen anywhere.

You have to sacrifice a cross-country World Cup for your detour onto the road. Is defending your overall World Cup victory still in the cards?
That's right, but I would have skipped the World Cup in Cairns anyway, as we decided to do the Cape Epic. Two weeks after that is the World Cup in South Africa and then we would have had to wait another two weeks until Cairns. With this program I would have been on the road so much that I wouldn't have been able to train well at all. With one race less, I will certainly need a bit of luck to win the overall World Cup. On the other hand, I've already won it three times and that's why it's not so important to me this year. In the following years, the focus will be entirely on mountain biking again.