After a "strange" season that "definitely didn't go to plan" Jesse Sergent is looking forward to a new chapter in his career with Ag2r-La Mondiale after five years with the Trek and RadioShack teams.
The 27-year-old's 2015 season is likely to be remembered more for a crash in which he had no doing, when a neutral service vehicle hit him mid-race at the Tour of Flanders, but Sergent has put the incident behind him and is looking to recapture the form that saw him take wins at the Eneco Tour, Tour of Austria and overall at the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen.
"I could have sat around for a while but I tried to get on with it," Sergent told Cyclingnews of the April incident which resulted in a broken collarbone. "You can't change it so I was trying to move on for myself. They came to the hotel and there was an apology from the driver, it doesn't sound like much, but for me it was quite a bit for him to come and see me. I know he didn't do it deliberately. It was human error I guess."
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Sergent made his return to racing at the Tour de Wallonie, withdrawing on the first stage. Next up was the Tour de Pologne where Sergent finished 14th in the final day time trial before recording a DNF at the Vattenfall Cyclassics. Sergent then helped power Trek to team time trial victory at the Tour of Alberta which would be the last road race he finished in 2015. The disrupted season meant Sergent missed racing a grand tour for the first time since 2012 and left him underdone going into the Richmond Worlds, finishing 35th in the time trial.
Adding to his condition was the knowledge that he was in a contract year after five years with Trek teams, and two years before that on the Trek-Livestrong team, so when the offer from Ag2r-La Mondiale was placed on the table it was an opportunity Sergent grabbed with both hands.
"I sat down with the team and we had a great first meeting and I was really excited and then talks carried on from that," he said of the deal that saw him become the first Kiwi rider to sign for the French WorldTour team. "I am definitely looking forward to the change with a new team, new people and new bikes. I guess at heart I am a bit of a bike fan and I have ridden Trek for five years with the WorldTour team and then two years with Trek-Livestrong so I haven't ridden that many different brands of bikes so that will be interesting.
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