VALE RIO PIVA DIRECTEUR SPORT IF, BMC RACING

Dylan started the season well. He was pushed to be the team leader in Paris-Nice and he was very good there. I think part of the reason he wasn’t at his best in the Ardennes Classics was because he pushed too hard in Pays Basque, where he tried to get into the top 10, and also rode Brabantse Pijl in the build-up. That disappointment in the Ardennes got him down. He was on the long-list for the Tour de France, but at the Dauphiné, he was not super and he wasn’t selected. Personally, I think he would have come good, but we needed riders who were at 100 per cent early on. That was another blow for him.

But he came back well in the second half of the year. After some altitude training he was good in the Tour of Poland and he was fantastic at the Vuelta. I think if he had been able to win a stage in Poland, his season would have changed completely, because he would have been more relaxed. At the Vuelta, I had the feeling he was too nervous to win one of the many stages when he inished in the top ive.

A lot of times, riders win some races and then expectation starts to build. They expect more, the team expects more and the rivals watch you more closely. To win is not di icult, but to keep winning is. Getting over that is the really di icult part of building a top career. I think he learned a lot this year and I still think he’s a real top talent for the Ardennes Classics.