It's not often that a rider arrives at a new team and admits he or she has taken a 'step back.' After three years at 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:IAM Cycling in which he stepped out of the shadows of domestique duty to explore his potential as a stage race leader, 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Mathias Frank will revert to type in 2017, this time in the colours of 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:AG2R-La Mondiale.

Every rider on the IAM roster has had to seek out a new avenue since it was announced the Swiss team would fold at the end of the season, but it's not t🎃hat Frank has had to settle for something he'd ordinarily have been unhappy with.

Despite finishing eighth at the Tour de France in 2015, the leadership experiment didn't turn out quite as he'd hoped, and the 29-year-old is perfectly happy to begin shepherding French sensation Romain Bardet as he used to do for Tejay van Garderen at🐟 BMC Racing.

"At IAM I got the chance to find out what I was capable of," Frank tells Cyclingnews at AG2R's first off-season gathering in the French Alps. "But then I found out that I was struggling sometimes to perform under pres🎃sure.

"It's hard put my finger on it. For me it's always b🃏een hard to predict my shape. Some guys can really time it. For me it's more abou⭕t the feeling, whether it comes or not. Then it's hard to be a leader, because on certain days you have to perform."

Frank's talent i🍎s plain to see but he hasn't necessarily come away from his three years at IAM with the results to show for it, though his eighth place at the Tour and 2nd place at the Tour de Suisse the previous year were highlights.

His main focus this se🦄ason revolved around Suisse, his 🌸home race, which led into the Tour, but Illness forced him to abandon both, and made up his mind.

"I think this move, for me, it's going one step back, but it was the role I was looking for – being a support rid🌱er, but having my own chances in other places.

"I still have the fire, I still want to find out who I ♓am, what I'm capable of as a rider, but without the pressure."

Frank showed what he can do when the pressure is off at this🎉 year's Vuelta a España, where he salvaged his season thanks to a stage win on the Mas de la Costa summit finish on stage 17.

"The Vuelta was just a fun race in the end – I had nothing to lose. I just enjoyed myself, really had fun – more fun than I've had for a long tꦍime actually. Maybe I should've won more but in the end I won one stage, enjoyed myself, and won back some confidence, and 🍰that's all I was looking for."

Bardet is less conservative than van Garderen

Full of confidence, and ba💖ck in a role he is comfortable with🤪, Frank can't wait to get to work with Bardet. He doesn't have a bad word to say about van Garderen, with whom he remains close, but recognises that his new leader is "a bit less conservative as a rider – he tries more things."

The Frenchman is the clear figurehead and focal point of the team, and his stock continues to꧋ rise after he finished runner-up at this year's Tour de France thanks to a swashbuckling stage victory in the Alps.

"He's a super big tale🔯nt – one of the big♒gest talents I've seen in the last few years. I'm looking forward to working with him and getting to know him better," says Frank.

"We have this camp and then💞 another one next month, I'm going to do some races with 🌄him, we'll get to know each other, get to know how he wants to get things done, how he wants to ride in the peloton.

"I'll be in my 10th year as a pro, I've also worked with some oth⛄er big champions and I hope I picked up something there, so I think I h♍ave some experience to offer him."

Frank points ou♚t he will have his own personal opportunities along the line – notably at the Tour de Suisse while Bardet rides the Criterium du Dauphiné – but he insists he'd take just as much satisfaction from being part of someone else's success.

"With Romain we have a guy who's shown he's capable of winning the Tour. It's a dream for me to be part of a winning team at the Tour – that'd be an awesome experience. Coming here, there is a chance I can experie๊nce that."