Young American talent determined to work on his Achilles heel
Having already shown he is one of the most exciting young American talents via his overall victory in the Baby Giro, as well as his fourth place on the Tour of California’s Mount Baldy stage as a 21 year old amateur, Joe Dombrowski is counting down the days until he first races as a pro rider.
The new Team Sky signing will make his debut in the upcoming Tour of Oman, which begins February 11th. That includes the climb of Green Mountain but he seems more focussed on the bigger picture this season, laying the foundation for a good career, rather than setting specific targets in Oman or elsewhere.
“Going into this season, obviously my goals and objectives are different from what they have been in the last couple of years,” he said, answering questions put to him by Team Sky fans. “I spent the last two years on a development team racing under-23 races in Europe and some of the bigger races in the States.
“I was going to races to get results where as now, moving into a team like this at the top level, it’s a case of stepping back again and trying to learn as much as I can. Being helpful to the team in races and continue my progression and development in the first year.”
Dombrowski competed with the Trek Livestrong and Bontrager Livestrong setups since riding a trial with them in August 2010, and has made a steady progression. Last year was particularly impressive, with two mountain stage wins plus the overall in the Baby Giro, his strong Mount Baldy ride against WorldTour competitors, twelfth overall in the Tour of California, tenth in the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, fourth in the Tour of Utah and third in the Tour of the Gila.
Given his young age, there’s every reason to believe that USA cycling has a big star in the making.
He’s keeping his feet on the ground, though, accepting that a lot of work lies ahead. He’ll continue to develop his climbing, but sees another area as being something he needs to focus on too.
“Time trialling has sort of been my Achilles heel the last couple of years. I can climb well enough that I’ve done well in a number of stage races but sometimes in a TT I tend to lose time,” he said in the interview, which was posted on the team website. “I think it’s one of those things where I have to look big picture.
“In the next year or two it’s not crucial that I’m ripping time trials, but in the long-term I hope to continue to develop as a stage racer and part of that is going to be putting a lot of time into working on my time trialling – whether that’s a combination of spending more time on the bike, looking at how I am aerodynamically or working on core strength and that stuff.”
Aside from that, he feels that he must also adapt to living in Europe, fending off homesickness and embracing the European culture.
That’s something which has tested many foreign riders in the past, but he believes that with Team Sky, he’s in a very good setup to give him support.
“So far I’ve really enjoyed being with the team. It obviously has a lot of the best riders in the world but you don’t really get that feeling while you’re here,” he said, referring to the training camp in Mallorca. “You sit down at the dinner table and you feel like you fit in with everybody else. There aren’t really any attitudes and everyone gets a long really well.
“The team has also been really accommodating with me in the transition both to this level but also moving to Nice this winter. They’ve been really helpful in easing that transition.”