Andrew Talansky who has started his 2016 season at the Tour de San Luis, has told Cyclingnews that he wants to shine on the roads after a challenging 18 months marred by crashes. The Cannondale rider will target the Tour de France this year but he first wants to show he is ready to fight.

"We looked through the calendar and really it is just the Tour Down Under or this and I wanted to come here to see what the race was about and to start my year off by getting a week of racing under my belt but in a relaxed way. When we do get to Paris-Nice and Algarve, I will be expecting pretty good performances out of myself and I think that the team expects that too. Here is a little bit of a rare opportunity to help some of my teammates… A lot of my teammates spend the whole season helping me achieve goals and it’s nice to pay that back some times."

Talansky has demonstrated that he has the legs to compete in stage races. The US rider finished in the top 10 at the 2013 Tour de France. "Sometimes it’s not a great experience to have but sometimes it can help you a lot. It beats you down a little bit and you’re not at the front of races like you wanted to be and you’re not performing how you want to be", he explained. "From there, you have a choice to make and you either sit there and feel sorry for yourself, and ask why things aren’t going your way or you move your ass and you train your ass off and you return to the level or even surpass the level that you’ve had before. I’ve definitely found that renewed fire and motivation this winter to show the results that I’ve had, second in Romandie to Bradley Wiggins, second to Richie Porte in Paris-Nice, winning Dauphiné, those results aren’t the pinnacle of what I can do, it’s just the start."

Following the Tour de San Luis, Talansky will be back in Europe to race the Volta ao Algarve. He will be present at the start of Paris-Nice, the Volta a Catalunya, the Tour de Romandie. After some rest days, he will prepare the Tour de France at the Critérium du Dauphiné. "I don’t ever feel like I’ve got a fully clean run at the Tour. Even when I won the Dauphiné it was not very smooth. Last year I was sick and then I went to the Tour of California and stopped on the first day. This year the process already started in November and the big goal is to really focus on all the races through the season but ideally when we sit down in August and look at how the Tour went, however it goes, they can say ‘He did everything he could from November through to July’. I don’t think I’ve been able to say that in the past."

This winter, Pierre Rolland and Rigoberto Uran joined the US team. The Colombian rider will aim to win the Giro d'Italia while Talanskywill join forces with the Frenchman in the Tour. "I can be a little more calculated at times and looking at the overall picture. Pierre is very passionate and you see that in the way he races. If he’s on a great day then he’ll attack until he gets away, he’ll attack until he forces himself away. He’s not one to sit on and finish eighth on a stage and hope that that’s his GC race. He’s someone that’s always attacking and always off the front. I think that the combination of a little bit more conservative style at times can complement each other really well."