With a second place in a stage of Tirreno-Adriatico, Gerald Ciolek (MTN-Qhubeka) indicated in March that his form for Milan-Sanremo was good. But the winner of the 2013 edition crashed in the finale of the first big spring classic of the season and ultimately had to abandon the race.

"In Milan-San Remo, but also already in the races before that, I had some bad luck so I could not turn my good form into results which also had a negative impact on the rest of the season," Ciolek told radsport-news.com.

Actually there were no noteworthy results later in the year, except for a sixth place in the Garmin Velothon (1.1) in Berlin and a third place in a stage of the Tour of Austria (2.HC) where he briefly wore the yellow jersey. That the results were so poor also stemmed from the fact that Ciolek worked a lot for his teammates.

"I had some very good races, but unfortunately I missed a real highlight,” the German said. As he was not selected for the Tour de France or the Vuelta a Espana, Ciolek felt no real support at MTN-Qhubeka so both parties decided not to renew the expiring contract.

In 2016, the 29-year-old sprinter wants to restart his career at the Danish-German Cult Energy-Stölting Group, "and I want to confirm the trust of the team management," said Ciolek who not only intends to win races but also support his younger teammates with his experience.