The 23-year-old Lotto Belisol rider can look back on a successful season after reaching its conclusion with his brilliant performance in Sunday’s Il Lombardia, where he finished just outside the podium. Wellens won the sixth stage of the Eneco Tour – his first pro victory – and won the overall classification of this WorldTour race. By completing the Giro, Tim completed his first Grand Tour and could benefit of it later on. In Italy he already showed himself with among other two second places and the ninth place in the climb time trial to Cima Grappa.

Even though coming fourth is usually a bittersweet result for all athletes, young Wellens was pleased after coming short in a battle with the likes of Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) behind the back of yestarday’s winner Daniel Martin (Garmin-Sharp).

“I had good legs all day in Lombardia. I attacked on the last climb and had a small gap. I never looked back and didn’t know how much advantage I had on the chasers. On the top I was reeled in by a small group. It then went very fast and nobody could get away. Dan Martin took off in the last kilometre. I got third in the sprint for the second place. The fourth place is a really good result. It was a long and hard race and it went fast all day, everyone was at their limit at the foot of the last climb. If you can finish fourth, you can win. You need some luck as well,” Wellens said.

The 23-year old Belgian was openly satisfied with his breakthrough 2014 season, highlighted by splendid performances in Ardennes classics, Giro d’Italia and Eneco Tour. He also pointed out that he intends to work hard on his time trialing in order to make further development as complete stage-racer.

“I’m very satisfied about my season. It was better than expected. My victory in the Eneco Tour was of course the highlight. Then there was the silver medal at the Belgian Championship time trial, a really good Giro and finally my fourth place in Lombardia. In the Amstel Gold Race I was strong and I had good legs in the Flèche Wallonne as well. Next year I hope to set good results in the classics. It’s a big difference if you ride a race for the first time. Experience is a big advantage.”

“I’m very pleased that I rode the Giro. I set a few steps forward. Three weeks of racing was good for the development of my body. I reached a higher level afterwards. In the Ster ZLM Toer for example I got second behind Philippe Gilbert in GC and second behind him in the stage to La Gileppe. That performance gave me confidence. It made me realize I can ride finals and should save my energy longer. I now also feel that long distances aren’t a problem anymore, as I showed in Lombardia.”

“The stage win and overall victory in the Eneco Tour are a big step in my career. More people know me now and one always remembers a victory. The silver medal at the Belgian Championship time trial came as a surprise. My time trial there and in the Ster ZLM Toer were good, unlike the one in the Eneco Tour. So that’s something to work on. Time trialling is really important if you aim for a good GC in races.”