Matthias Frank is ready for his new adventure at Ag2r-La Mondiale and recently attended the pre-season training camp at the Vaujany resort. The Swiss rider will return to a teammate role.

"At IAM I got the chance to find out what I was capable of. But then I found out that I was struggling sometimes to perform under pressure", Frank explained to Cyclingnews. "It's hard put my finger on it. For me it's always been hard to predict my shape. Some guys can really time it. For me it's more about the feeling, whether it comes or not. Then it's hard to be a leader, because on certain days you have to perform."

Romain Bardet will be his leader and Frank has a lot of compliments about the French rider. "He's a super big talent – one of the biggest talents I've seen in the last few years. I'm looking forward to working with him and getting to know him better. We have this camp and then another one next month, I'm going to do some races with him, we'll get to know each other, get to know how he wants to get things done, how he wants to ride in the peloton. I'll be in my 10th year as a pro, I've also worked with some other big champions and I hope I picked up something there, so I think I have some experience to offer him."

He insists that Bardet is a strong climber who will be able to win a grand tour in a near future. "With Romain we have a guy who's shown he's capable of winning the Tour. It's a dream for me to be part of a winning team at the Tour – that'd be an awesome experience. Coming here, there is a chance I can experience that."