After he confirmed he is leaving Astana at the end of the season, Rein Taaramae has put himself in full view in the shop window by winning the Vuelta a Burgos and the Arctic Race of Norway this month overall.

After a few bad years caused by an illness, the Estonian says he is back and better than ever before as he enters his peak years as a pro rider.

“I always had good talent but I had some hard years,” Taaramäe said at the post-Arctic Race press conference. “Mononucleosis in 2012 after a very good start of season. After, I broke my hand, I crashed. And after, I had some breathing problems. I used every treatment that was possible because everybody said it was asthma, but finally [I learned that] I had a laryngeal obstruction in the inside of my [throat].”

“After that was solved, I won in Turkey. Everything’s gone well after, so that was the main problem.”

Taaramae confirmed he is leaving Astana and says he is very close to a deal with two teams, but refused to give any details on who those teams are.

“I’m pretty sure that I will leave the team,” Taaramäe said when asked of his situation. “There are many teams, and with two teams I’m very close,” Taaramäe said. “I think in the coming week I can [decide].”

When asked what he wants from his new team in terms of opportunities, the 28 year old said he wants to target stage races and individual satges in Grand Tours. He has a Vuelta a Espana stage to his name already when he was at Cofidis. But he says chasing the top ten in a Grand Tour may be a bit beyond him.

“I can win stages in grand tours but I don’t want to be a team leader,” Taaramäe said. “I’m not sure if I have enough talent to win or to do top 6 or top 3 in the big tours. I need to be a little bit protected.”

“For example, if I have a team leader and something happens with him, if I stay in the classification I can take the leadership, but I don’t want the team to come for me at the start of the season and prepare only for that because I’m not sure about that. One-week races, I can do well, but big races … maybe I don’t have enough talent.”