Boswell ready to bounce back from 'disappointing' California performance
Ian Boswell moved to Katusha-Alpecin this season after five years with Team Sky in part to have more opportunities, especially a shot at making his Tour de France debut after having ridden the Vuelta a España twice and the Giro d'Italia once.
Boswell's first shot at team leadership last month at the Tour of California did not go as well as he wanted, however, and now the 27-year-old American is hoping to make up some ground at the Critérium du Dauphiné, which starts Sunday with a 6.6km prologue time trial in Valence.
"It's kind of the ironic thing. I've had full opportunity here to race for GC, and I'm not in the top 15," Boswell told Cyclingnews at the California race.
Boswell finished the seven-day WorldTour race in 20th place, 8:24 off the winning time of Team Sky's 21-year-old Colombian sensation Egan Bernal. Boswell was 22nd on the first mountain day to Gibraltar Road, losing 2:55 to stage winner Bernal, and he was 21st on the Queen stage to Lake Tahoe, where he ceded another 3:50 to the Colombian.
"Last year when I did it I had kind of joint leadership and finished fifth overall," he said. "A couple of years ago I was riding for Sergio [Henao] and finished seventh. Funny how that works out. Sometimes you have opportunities and you don't quite stack up to them, but I think there are a lot of factors this year. The peloton is super deep, and I'm probably not riding at my best for some reason, which I'm not quite sure yet."
Boswell's hope that another top 10 result in California would cement his place on Katusha's Tour team obviously suffered a blow, but the now-veteran rider is taking it all in stride, hoping that altitude camps before and after Dauphiné will help put the finishing touches on his fitness, adding the high-end form he was lacking in California.
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