Even though he only achieved two top 10 results in his debut season, Jasha Sütterlin did well. That prompted his Movistar team boss Eusebio Unzue to extend the contract of the 22-year-old German until 2017 even though his original contract was not set to expire before the end of the 2015 season.
Despite the good and reassuring news, Sütterlin will not rest on the laurels.
"I will ride as if it were a contract year, I will go full gas," he tells in an interview with radsport-news.com.
In 2014, Sütterlin was carefully supported by the Spanish WorldTourteam but still got the chance to do big races like the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix where he managed to reach the famous finish on the velodrome in Roubaix as a neo-pro. In the second half of the season, Sütterlin even got some freedom and know how to exploit it like he did in the Eneco Tour - "I was in really good shape" - and the Tour du Poitou Charentes where he finished twelfth and fought for the win on the final stage.
Overall, the young German got to ride no less than ten World Tour races - including four of the five cycling monuments. In addition to the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, he also did Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Lombardy. "In general, all WorldTour races were super highlights for me," says Sütterlin who wants to do more of those races in 2015.
Perhaps the Giro d'Italia will be included on his calendar as his first grand tour. "We are yet to discuss the schedule at the team meeting. If I'm going to ride the Giro, I will only be there to learn. I have already discussed that with the team management," says Sütterlin who would like to start his season in the Tour Down Under and be at his best for the spring classics.
In those races he already made a decent performance in 2014. However, the time trials were disappointing. At the German Championships in Baunatal Sütterlin - still suffering from an injury sustained in a crash - could only manage 7th and so missed out on selection for the Worlds.
"Last year I have not done a single good time trial so I quickly forgot about the ITT at the Worlds," says Sütterlin who still got the chance to ride with Movistar at the Worlds team time trial.
That race didn't go well as Sütterlin was dropped by his teammates at the midpoint.
"I started too fast, have taken too long pulls and used too much power," says the 2013 German U23 time trial champion who wants to shine in his favourite discipline again.
"The time trials are still very important to me. I hope that I can again do a test in a wind tunnel at the start of the season to optimize my position," Sütterlin says.
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