In his most recent interview, fifth rider of this year’s World Championship individual time trial event, Rohan Dennis, mentioned a new wave of chrono specialists which are expected to take over the reins next season. He pointed out to his younger countryman Campbell Flakemore as one of those to watch, after the 22-year old Australian had won the Tour de l’Avenir prologue and the rainbow jersey in the U23 ITT event in Ponferrada.

Surprised by the media attention as much as his latest results, Flakemore reflected on his last year as an U23 rider and expectation towards the next season, in which he will debut within the WorldTour ranks in the BMC Racing outfit.

The 22-year old ITT World Champion admitted that the passing season wasn’t exactly as successful as one would expect. He said that only his great Tour de l’Avenir performance in August marked a watershed moment and raised an attention of first division teams.

“Well, I didn’t really have that many results this year until August when I won the prologue of the Tour de l’Avenir. Then, after that, I think my manager started talking to a few teams and it was the Saturday before the time trial, [that] he rang me up and said that BMC had a contract for me. And I just said, ‘Yep, I’ll take that.’,” Flakemore told RideMedia.

“The pressure was kind of off for the TT but I still was super motivated and really wanted to win it.

“He said there were one or two teams that were interested. He didn’t say who but I think if I could chose one team, BMC would definitely be in the top one or two that I would like to go to. So it worked out really well.”

The young Australian shares feelings of most neo-pros ahead of their debut in the professional peloton, expecting that his first season as a WorldTour level rider will be all about learning and gaining priceless experiences.

“Ah, it’s going to be a big learning curve, that’s for sure. Everyone always says that the WorldTour is just a massive step up and I’m just looking forward to it really.”

“Hopefully I’ll get to do some big races and just learn from guys [Philippe] Gilbert and [Tejay] van Garderen that I’ll be team-mates with. I’m sure I’ll learn a lot from those guys.”

Reflecting on his impressive performance in Ponferrada, Flakemore revealed that he had been absolutely convinced he’d been in contention for a second place until after he crossed the finish line.

“[For] the two time checks that I got, I was told I was 15 seconds down on both but I was actually 20 when the results came out. And, to be honest, I thought after the last time check – with 15km to go – I was racing for the silver, but I just kept pushing all the way to the line. And I ended up winning by under half a second, so that was pretty cool.”

In turns out, however, that making up for his significant time loss at first two intermediate splits had nothing to do with a coincidence, as the young Australian impressed with mature tactical astuteness on the difficult course in Ponferrada.

“[On] the course in Ponferrada there was a kilometre climb with four kilometres to go so I left a fair bit in the tank for that. And I think I must’ve got most of the 15 seconds that I was down – or 20 seconds – on that climb.”

“I rode a little bit underneath what I thought I could hold, power-wise, until the climb and then on the climb I just [went] full gas. It was quite a controlled effort and that’s normally how I ride a time trial.”

“I don’t go out full gas – like some guys do – and try and hold on and possibly blow to pieces. I try and keep it consistent and that’s just the way I do it really.”

Such maturity at the age of only 22 suggests that Flakemore indeed should be the one to watch in seasons to come.