After an excellent debut season, Julian Arredondo has lofty goals for 2015. The Colombian takes aims at the classics and hopes to make his Tour de France debut.

Julian Arredondo was one of the revelations of the 2014 season when he made his debut with Trek Factory Racing and surprised most with his great performances. The Colombian won two stages of the Tour de San Luis, another one at the Giro d’Italia where he won the mountains jersey and gace several demostrations of his talents in classics and short stage races.

Having returned to Colombia for a vacation, Arredondo spoke with Ciclismo Internacional about his great season.

"I'm pretty happy with my first season at the top level. I did important things and now I hope for a great 2015," he says modestly.

However, Arredondo is fully aware that his debut season was beyond expectations and was noticed by the team management. “That allowed me to extend my contract,” he says before humbly adding that “I have to continue working hard and proving that I can get great results.”

One of Arredondo’s greatest assets is his constant desire to improve. He confirmed that assessment when asked about the lessons learned in 2014. “I learned that you always have to work hard and be prepared and focus throughout the entire year.”

In 2014, Arredondo had 79 days of competition and that was a massive workload for the youngster. "Indeed, this is the first time I have had so many race days and I did not do too bad,” he says.

"The second half of the season was not too bad as I achieved some results in the end. I had some troubles at the Vuelta a Espana where I suffered from health problems,” he said when asked why he did not shine as much as he did in the Giro. Unsurprisingly, the Italian race was the highlight of his year, "Yes, the best time was the Giro d'Italia, and the worst undoubtedly the Vuelta a Espana."

Despite being tired after the Vuelta, Arredondo insisting on travelling to China and Japan. “I like Asia. It was the continent that made me join the WorldTour. In particular, I like Japan which is a great country. I owe it a lot and it’s always good to go back,” he says.

Enjoying his break, Arredondo has started to focus on 2015 and already knows part of his goals and schedule. “I won’t do San Luis. It’s too early to start my season there. My first race will be the  Ruta del Sol,” he says before revealing the big news. “In the first part, I will focus on the classics and in the second half, I am on the long list for the Tour de France.

“I hope to do my first Tour de France,” he says and then sets another lofty goal. “At the end of the year, I hope to be in the top 20 of the WorldTour ranking.”

Arredondo knows where his strengths lie and there admits that he must work “harder in the time trial” but also reveals that he is not interested in developing into a GC rider for the grand tours. “No, I don’t want to fight for the GC. I will shine in another way. Three weeks are a lot.”

Instead, he has different priorities. “I prefer the one-week races and the classics. I have always admired Purito Rodriguez. I still admire his way of riding and how he behaves.”

It seems that Arredondo will skip the Giro in 2015 and instead make his debut in La Grande Boucle whose mountainous course should allow him to shine on the biggest scene.