Warbasse secures one-year extension with IAM Cycling after Vuelta a Espana ride
US rider looking to secure Tour de France place
Larry Warbasse has secured another one-year deal with Swiss team IAM Cycling after an impressive ride in this year's Vuelta a Espana. The 25-year-old made it into a number of breaks during the race and finished 38th overall. Having gone into the race with his future uncertain – IAM only offers their riders one-year deals – Warbasse can now start to plan for next season.
"For me, it was unsure going into the Vuelta and it didn't look so good but the cool thing was that the team still gave me the opportunity to race the Vuelta and show myself," he told Cyclingnews.
"In the end I was able to do that, got into some good moves, and had some strong rides. At the end of the race the team came to me with another year contract and I've really enjoyed this season, so it made sense to stay."
Warbasse is no stranger to securing last minute deals, having gone through the same protocol in 2014. That year he found himself without a spot on BMC Racing and was forced to use the Vuelta a Espana as leverage in securing a new team. That experience proved somewhat invaluable this time around.
"I guess last year I was in a similar situation in that I didn't have a contract going into the Vuelta. I was extremely stressed but having gone through that before it meant that I was a lot more mellow this time around. There was pressure on my shoulders but this year I was more confident. I just believed and I did everything that could with a mix of altitude camps and some stricter diet watching."
With his future secure for another season Warbasse can concentrate on hitting the ground running in 2016. This year started as somewhat of a transitional phase for him and by his own admission it took him time to settle and find his feet.
"This year I had a bit more of a slower start. The hard thing when you change teams nowadays is that most teams have their own trainers and you change bikes, coaches and all these other little things that just add up. So that slow start, and maybe I was a bit too relaxed, had an effect," he said.
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"Then, in the middle of the season, I had a shift in mind-set because I realised that I had a lot more chances in this team than perhaps I did on BMC where it was a lot about one or two big leaders in most of the races. So I knew that by going to altitude I was creating and making the most of the opportunities."
Warbasse will sit down with the IAM Cycling hierarchy in the coming weeks and discuss is objectives for next season but the rider hinted that he would be keen on a Tour de France spot.
"I don't know my race programme yet but we'll have some meetings coming up in the next few weeks and then I'll have more of an idea. I can imagine that I'll do – like this year – quite a few WorldTour stages races. I don't know what the team's plans are in terms of Grand Tours for next year but I'd like to help support Mathias Frank in the mountains at the Tour. He was top ten and he's has some big rides so it would be cool to some more races with him."
Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.