After third place in the Swiss Road Race, Mathias Frank is ready to lead IAM Cycling in the Tour de France. It will be his third attempt at the Tour and his second leading IAM, and the 28 year old told CyclignQuotes that’s despite not having the best preparation, his form is coming along nicely.

Frank was honest when speaking to CyclingQuotes after his national championships, saying that up until now he has had a season to forget. 12th in Romandie, 17th in Fleche Wallonne, 19th in Oman and third in the Swiss Road Race are the highlights so far. By no means bad, but when you consider Frank at this point last season had finished second in Bayern Rundfahrt and won the queen stage, second in Criterium International and a win in the queen stage, second in the Tour de Suisse and fourth in Romandie, he is below his high standards.

“I’d say my season was pretty bad. I was sick and injured a lot and there was always something holding me back. But when it has been bad up until now, that means it can only get better.”

Its true that he has his health issues, with sickness taking him out of the Dauphine just a day after he had finished tenth on stage sixth to Pra Loup, a stage that is identical to one used in the Tour de France. But he says he is over his issues and heading into his big goal of the Tour de France in just a few days, his form is coming on nicely.

“I think my shape is getting good. I was good before the Dauphine but I was a bit sick there with sinusitis towards the end and I couldn’t finish the race. I also had to take antibiotics. For sure it’s not the best preparation for the Tour but I’m OK and I’m feeling good again.”

Frank is usually IAM’s GC rider, but due to his lack of luck and health this year, he hasn’t fully been able to show what he can do. While team owner Michael Thétaz has said that if Frank secures a top ten, the Tour will be considered a great success. The man himself is not so keen to put a goal down yet, saying he will take the world’s biggest race day by day.

“My objective is to do my best every day and to try to take things day by day and we will see what happens at the end of the three weeks.”

If Frank does target the GC, he has plenty of strong climbers to support him like Jerome Coppel, Jarlinson Pantano, and Marcel Wyss. Alternatively, should he fail to mount a challenge, IAM has four strong climbers who can win the mountain stages of the Tour, of which there are many in 2015.

“I think we have a good team. We have no real sprinter but we have a lot of guys who can go for breakaways and good climbers like Marcel, Pantano, Jerome Coppel, guys for the flats like Chava (Sylvain Chavanel), Martin Elmiger and Reto Hollenstein. We have a good team. There is also Brandle for the team time trial.”