It is not often that teams outside of the WorldTour are able to snap up the best young talents, and even rarer that they can tie them down to long term deals. Not much was made of Bora-Argon18’s decision to sign Emanuel Buchmann for the 2015 season. Fast forward 12 months and the 23 year old is now German Road Race champion, third on a stage in his debut Tour de France and tied down on a deal with the German Pro Conti team until the end of 2018. Just before he jetted off for the Tour of Oman, the young rider took some time from his busy schedule to speak with CyclingQuotes.

“I am very satisfied how everything turned out. For sure I did not expect successes like the German National title, so I am very happy. But I think it was not just the highlights, I think it was very good constant first year,” Buchmann replied when asked how he would assess his firs year as a pro.

Part of the problem with not being WorldTour is that the race calendar is not always clear. Speaking last week, Buchmann said he wasn’t sure where he would next race after Oman, but said he will try and get some races that allow him to excel in the mountains.

“It depends on the wildcards we get from organizers. But in general it should be more or less like last year. For sure I will do the type of races that suit my abilities and my strengths are in the mountains.”

Buchmann’s first win was the German road race, but the stage that really opened the cycling world’s eyes up to the climber’s talent was stage eleven of the Tour de France. He made it into a break in his first Grand Tour, and only Rafal Majka and Dan Martin could beat him that day. He explained the events of the stage in depth to CyclingQuotes.

“It was a very hard stage over the Tourmalet. The most difficult thing that day was to get in the group. Normally those groups develop pretty early in this kind of stages, but that day it took more than 80k until we went away. I was also in previous groups that day because I really wanted to take my chance. So it was really hard work to be in the group. In the end I was 3rd, which is really good! But for me even more important is that I felt that day that can win a stage like this one day and that I am able to go with the best in the high mountains.”

His debut Tour was made even more special when he got to do it wearing his national jersey after his victory in the road race. While he was surprised he took the honours at the finish line, he says he is sure he was the strongest guy in the race that day.

“It was a surprise also to me that I took the win that day. But I think I really have been the strongest rider that day, which was also surprising. Know it is just a really big honor to ride with that jersey, and for a German team like BORA - ARGON 18 it is even more important to have that jersey within your team.”

When asked about what 2016 would hold for him, Buchmann said he isn’t thinking about results this season. He wants to just find more days where he is not just good, but really strong and he wants to consistently feel this way.

“I want to develop, take the next step. I think I should be even more consistent this year, and I hope to have a little more of the days like at the German Championship where I really felt strong. But I have no goals in terms of results. I think results will come anyway when I manage to develop step by step, and in our team everything is perfect to do so. We ride good races, are a good group of riders, but also the DS and management give us some freedom in the races and room to develop. It is a great environment at BORA - ARGON 18.”

Turning to beyond 2016, Buchmann knows he has some dates with destiny in the high mountains to come. He hopes he can use his climbing ability to become a great stage racer and, if his career allows it, a Grand Tour contender. But for now, he has his 2016 goals and wants to stick to them.

“I think I already showed that my strengths are in the mountains, but also my recovery from day to day is good. I think I can develop into a really good stage racer. We will see how fare this can go, but I like the Grand Tours and want to concentrate on them the next years.”