With seven stage wins and an overall victory in the Tour of Taihu Lake, Italian sprint talent Jakub Mareczko (Southeast) has enjoyed a breakthrough in the final part of the season. The 21-year-old is finally enjoying some rest after his first pro season.

Due to his many wins in the Chinese race, Mareczko was the rider with fifth most victories in 2015.

"It is not bad," he tells Tuttobiciweb. "I had the same number of wins as last year but to succeed in the highest category has an extra value. I am pleased with how it went and the last time was really exciting. I feel I have matured and face the races with greater confidence than ever before. I could not ask for more, but I have to keep working to improve my climbing to be there in the most demanding races. If I'll be at the start of the Giro next year, I want to be ready to contest the sprints."

Mareczko has just returned from his successful trip to China.

"You know that cyclists travel a lot but we see very little," he said. Every day in Hainan and Taihu Lake tour, my typical day consisted of 150 km of riding, a hotel room, a massage bed and meals which was anything but exotic. It was the usual rice and the usual vegetables. Asia is very attractive but I can not tell you why. I was not there as a tourist.

"With Daniela, my girlfriend, I will visit Salzburg, Vienna, Jaroslaw where my grandparents and my uncles live, Prague, Bratislava. I feel the need to disconnect and to recharge my batteries and find the will to do the hard work and dedicate myself 100%. When I get home I will get to work for 2016. Where am I going to start? I hope to wear the blue jersey [of the national team] in the Tour de San Luis, just like a year ago."

Mareczko has a Polish background but is has an Italian passport.

"That question always makes me a little distressed because I do not know what to say," he says when asked about whether he feels like an Italian or a Pole. "I was born in Jaroslaw, in southern Poland, near the border to Ukraine, but I have lived in Italy since I was five years old, in Raffa di Puegnago near Lake Garda with my mother Dorota who left Poland to work. In fact shewas the one putting me on a bike when I was 6 years old. I rarely go back to Poland but I still have ties. I do not know much about this country but I know the mountains, the lakes, the views, the history."