Having had his first two years as a pro with Team Sky ruined by injury, Joe Dombrowski is looking to fulfil his potential at Cannondale-Garmin now that he has had his problems fixed, as he told Cyclingnews.
“The last year and a half, I had some setbacks with injuries. I didn’t race the majority of last season, and that is what it is… I can’t change that. Hopefully going into this year, everything is fixed,” Dombrowski said.
“I want to continue forward, to progress as a GC rider and to become a better racer in general. Coming off of injury, I need to get back to climbing with the front group and being able to stay with the fast guys during the selective points of the race. I’m looking for steady progress.”
He enjoyed a lot of early success riding back home for Axel Merckx’s Bontrager-Livestrong team and he hopes that racing with his new American team in 2015 will help him kick start his career, which he has plenty of time to save at just 23.
“I think Cannondale-Garmin is a good environment for me,” Dombrowski said. “After last year, I had a lot of setbacks and I was trying to figure out what was going on, getting everything fixed and moving forward. This feels like a little bit of a fresh start. I had a long time off my bike and a long time away from racing, so I’ve come in motivated to have a good season.”
“What I’m looking for is consistency and being healthy,” Dombrowski said. “Last year, I did California and Suisse, and that was it, so not a whole lot of racing. First and foremost, being healthy and being consistent in the races are the two most important things.”
One big objective he has for 2015 is to ride a Grand Tour, just looking to gain experience that he hopes will serve him well in future years when he hopes to become a contender in the big three-week races.
“I would like to do a Grand Tour this year but I don’t know if I will or not,” Dombrowski said. “I could definitely be there as a support role for our team leader. I don’t think you can go into your first Grand Tour looking to set the world on fire. Just get in there and learn the ropes a bit. The first one is about experience and from there, you build on that.”
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