It was a season with two faces for Matthew Pelucchi. The IAM Cycling sprinter has been confirmed himself at the highest level by taking four victories. However, three different injuries prevented him to from himself consistency and increasing his tally even more.

Nonetheless, Pelucchi has grown a lot and the fact that he will have more leadership in the Swiss team is the confirmation. He hopes for more luck in 2016 to finally establish himself as a top sprinter on the international scene.

”Let's say it was my most unfortunate year, but also one where I got more results,” he told CyclingPro.net. “I can hardly blame myself. The only crash that I could have avoided was the one at the Vuelta. I had to guilt in the others. This is also part of the job.”

”Looking at my season, I won right away in Mallorca and then I achieved good results in Oman and Kuurne. I was always well placed but then I had the first crash in Tirreno and that forced me to stay off the bike for a week. When you have to rest for so long, it's hard to recover and regain the level of before. Nonetheless, I started the Giro in good condition after Yorkshire where I improved. I crashed in the second stage. It seemed to be a small issue but it turned out to be a torture because it took a month to recover. I had an infection that made it difficult to pedal. When you can’t work for a long time, you lose condition and therefor I missed consistency in my results.”

Nonetheless, Pelucchi still sprinted to second in stage 6 of the Giro.

”After the crash, it was mostly under control,” he said. “It was difficult to ride well, but I was able to go on. On the rest day, the injury got worse and I started the next stage but it was impossible to continue. Unfortunately, it was a wound in an area that is difficult to protect.”

The 2015 season was the first year at WorldTour level for IAM.

“The team had to get stronger,” Pelucchi said. “The riders and personal environment always remained the same. In terms of races and calendar, there have been many novelties but we have always done the Tour, the Classics, San Remo, a program of a good level. We have another step and this requires greater preparation for everybody, both the staff and riders, given that the level is higher.”

IAM have done nothing to hide that they will focus more on sprints and plan to build a train.

“This year there was a chance to work a bit on a train,” Pelucchi said. “I had Kluge, Reynes and Saramotins who helped me out more than once. For example, I can say that half of the second stage win in Poland was due to them and I had only had to finalize their job. Recently, we have created a good team and we are still working. We have also signed Howard who, besides being very fast, can give me a hand in the sprints. In the first training camp, we quickly found a good understanding, we are motivated and we can do well. As a team we are missing very little. We need to refine some automatisms but we are already at a good level.

”I'm happy that the team believes in me. I think I earned my status because I have taken three of the four WorldTour victories that the team has won. They give me confidence and the teammates are motivated to help me. The nice thing is that Reynes and Saramotins was asked to do the season at my side. This motivates me a lot and it motivates me to give my best. I do not want to disappoint them.”

Pelucchi already has a rough idea about his goals and schedule.
 

“I want to start right now and try to achieve some results, possibly getting victories,” he said. “The main objective is to win a stage in the Giro d’Italia and then I want to get selected for the Worlds in Doha.

“I'll start at the Tour Down Under, then I'll do some races in Spain and France before arriving at Kuurne - Bruselles - Kuurne. Then it will be Tirreno - Adriatico, the Tour of Turkey and the Giro d’Italia.”

Pelucchi hopes to hit the ground running at the Tour Down Under.

“I'm curious to see the race, I've heard a lot about it,” he said. “Some say that it is rather hard and there are those who argue that it is the hardest of the year. Anyway, I would like to get there in a good condition to achieve at least one result. I will not be at 100%, but I would love to do well.”

The Giro d’Italia will again be the main goal.

“It 'a nice course and there are stages that are suitable for the sprinters,” he said. “They are slowly returning to the trend from a few years ago, with hard stages and others that are completely flat. I think it's a good thing, otherwise you risk that the sprinters will skip the event to do other races.”

”When I am in shape, I can beat Kittel and Greipel. However, I still consider them to be a step above me. Greipel is the strongest, but I hope to beat him.”