2015 will be a big year for Junior World Champion Jonas Bokeloh, as the 18-year-old German is now racing at U23 level with the newly formed SEG Racing Team, an U23 Development squad filled with some of the best young talents in world cycling. Bokeloh spoke exclusively to CyclingQuotes at the team’s training camp in Greece about his Rainbow winning ride and his 2015 hopes.

Bokeloh said he had an up and down season, where wins were hard to come by, although he made it count when he did win, taking some big results in 2014.

“I had a lot of up and downs like the Nation Cup races weren’t good, but there was also the German and the world championships on the road that were pretty good.”

He made up for his Nations Cup disappointment by taking the most desirable race in the Junior Category: the World Championships Road Race in Ponferrada. But he says there is not as much glory being Junior World Champion as people would expect, as he still had to return to his education and normal life.

“Its not like everyone expects to be. I still have to get up early to go to school and of course cycling also doesn’t become easier.”

As Bokeloh is moving up a division in 2015, he wont get to race in his Rainbow jersey in 2015, which he says is a little saddening, although it may help him in the races as there is no big target on his back, which many World Champions often talk about. It may help him quietly adjust to life as an U23.

“On the one hand I am sad but on the other hand I think its maybe an advantage. Now in the U23 class not everyone is only focused on you, there are other guys that are even stronger. So I can do my race without everyone watching at me.”

Bokeloh, a sprinter by trade, knows he has been given a golden opportunity with SEG Racing to showcase his superb talent and he says he hopes he is pushed on to more success by the other strong talents that have joined the team.

“I think racing here is a very big opportunity, there is staff with very good know-how and I think we are going to push us each other to make best chance possible from the opportunity.”

As it is his first year at the U23 level, he has very modest goals for 2015, but he does dream of being selected to ride the Worlds for Germany.

“My main focus is to gain a foothold in the U23. If I start dreaming I would like to go to the worlds again.”

Bokeloh is one of the standout talents on the SEG Racing Team and in the next few weeks we will bring you another exclusive interview with another big talent on the team, Magnus Bak Klaris, winner of the 2014 Junior Paris-Roubaix and the Peace Race. In the mean time, you can follow the team on Twitter (@SEGracing) to keep up to date with the squads progress in the opening few months of the teams existence.