When Matej Mohoric became the first rider to win back-to-back Junior and U23 World Road Race titles before signing for Cannondale, many predicted big things. The Slovenian spent 2014 learning the ropes and says he will do the same at the Cannondale-Garmin team this season too.

He says winning wasn’t on his mind last year and won’t be on his mind this season too, and he is focussing on further adapting to the WorldTour and developing more as a rider.

"I had absolutely no problem with not winning, I expected that," he said of a debut season where 5th place on a stage of the Tour of Alberta was the high points in terms of results. "I knew that it was time to train, to absorb this work and the effort we put into our profession. But it was a good year, a decent year. I gained a lot of experience, and I finished most of the races I started so that was a good thing."

He says he can do many things well on a bike and he is too young to pick a specific terrain and specialize in it, which he will do later in his career.

"I like climbs and time trials, so I'm quite good in shorter stage races but for now I'm too young to think about the Grand Tours," he insisted. "I also like the really tough one-day races like Lombardy or Liège. I did Liège last year and I loved it, but we'll see what the future brings.

"For now, the objective is to help the team and when the time comes, I'll probably make a switch to short stage races and tough one-day races. And then maybe, one day, to the Grand Tours."