This season didn’t leave behind a lot of good memories for Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Germin), the 26-year-old American - who showed his promise with a 10th-place finish in the 2013 Tour de France and a surprising overall victory at the 2014 Criterium du Dauphine.
Those splashy results raised expectations for Talansky in a home country that is desperately hungry for Grand Tour success, but they were put on hold following a well-publicised DNF in the 2014 Tour after several crashes.
A slow start to the 2015 season, where he got sick on the eve of the Tour of California and had to abandon on the first day, foreshadowed another mostly disappointing campaign. Talansky managed just 10th during his Dauphine defence in June, then had to fight mightily to reach 11th overall at the Tour after losing time in the first week to the other contenders.
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Bright spots this year include his win at the US time trial championship, followed by a race shaping solo breakaway in the road race, where he finished seventh after setting up teammate Joe Dombrowski for a chance to win. He had three top 10 stage finishes at Dauphine and nearly won stage 17 of the Tour de France to Pra-Loup, eventually finishing second to Simon Geschke (Giant-Alpecin).
Many young riders would be happy with that palmares, but it’s well known that Talansky, who team CEO Jonathan Vaughters likes to call “The Pitbull,” has outsized ambitions.
Talansky ended his season at the Vuelta a Espana, where he abandoned after finishing 154th during the stage 17 time trial. But despite the seemingly dour end note to a season that he admits came in well under expectations, Talansky told Cyclingnews in an interview this week that he believes he is set up well for success next year, even more so than he was coming into this season.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
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