After eight seasons riding for Garmin, Tyler Farrar found himself on the market for a new team last fall. Having just turned 30, and in the middle of a season that included a few strong results but no wins to that point, the American sprinter and Classics specialist was undoubtedly a different rider than he had been in years past. As it turned out, that rider was just what Pro Continental squad MTN-Qhubeka was looking for, as part of the team’s bold push to dramatically upgrade their roster for 2015. Adding to an air of growing excitement around the South African organization, Farrar signed on amid a flurry of other high-profile additions that included Edvald Boasson Hagen, Matt Goss, and Theo Bos.

A little over a month later, Tyler Farrar took on his final event in Garmin kit, the Tour of Beijing. On the third stage of the race, Farrar was the first man across the finish line in a high-speed battle with the likes of Luka Mezgec and Moreno Hofland, taking his first win of the season, and his first WorldTour victory since his Tour de France stage win on July 4th, 2011. With two other strong stage performances in Beijing, Farrar would go on to win the Points Classification in that race as well, adding a new jersey to his collection as he closed out his long tenure with Garmin. At the end of a year of near misses, Farrar’s Beijing performance was the best way to head into an offseason of transition on the right foot, and the Washington state native attributes his ability to close out 2014 with a bang to a rekindled enthusiasm after finding his place on a new team.

“I think it is always nice to finish a season on a high note,” Farrar told VeloHuman from Spain, where he has been racing in this week’s Ruta del Sol. “2014 was a good season for me as a whole, but I had always been close to victories without actually winning. Getting a win in Beijing was really good for the head going into the winter. I think a big part of it was having signed with MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung. I was so motivated for the new project that the results really came around at the end of the season.”

Notching a 2nd-place finish behind rising Australian sprinting star Caleb Ewan in this month’s Herald Sun Tour, Farrar seems to have maintained his enthusiasm and some form through the winter and into 2015, putting him in good shape for the early goings of the season.

“I had an incredibly smooth winter, I stayed healthy and was able to really focus in on my training without any major interruptions,” he said. “I am usually the kind of rider who needs a few races in the legs before I find top form, so to already be up in the mix at my first race of the year in Sun Tour was a really good sign that my work over the winter is paying off.”

He is now part of a somewhat crowded stable of proven sprinting talents on MTN-Qhubeka, but Farrar also has the strength to feature on the spring’s grueling Classics. As such, Farrar has directed his attention towards preparation for a campaign on the cobbles. “I did a ton of threshold and power work over the winter that I hope will really pay off in Belgium this spring,” he said.

Farrar’s main target races begin towards the end of March, with the more sprinter-friendly one-day events like Gent-Wevelgem, where he has had success in the past, getting particular focus, but he is on the lookout for results at every opportunity.

“My number one goal is to be at my best for the major cobbled Classics, starting with Dwars door Vlaanderen and carrying through to Paris-Roubaix,” he said. “I have built my entire winter around it. Of course any results before then will be a nice bonus though! I am not the kind of guy who likes to go to races just for training, so I will race for the win every opportunity I get this year.”

A roster loaded with high-speed talent will make MTN-Qhubeka particularly dangerous in the springtime races catering more to quick men, though the multiplicity of options makes the roles of each potential contender a bit unclear at the moment. Farrar sees this an asset, explaining that roles will be determined out on the road: “I think we have a super strong team for 2015, especially in the Classics. The most important thing in those races is to have good numbers in the final selection so that you have a few cards to play. Once we get into that situation it will come down to who has the best legs on the day.”

Farrar’s aim to prioritize the Classics is somewhat motivated by his own evaluation of his abilities. Though still capable of contending in the pure sprints, as he has shown with plenty of sprint stage Top 5s over the past few seasons, Farrar has not quite been able to muster the same sort of top-end velocity as he once could. However, the 30-year-old American sees his less potent finishing kick as a part of his inevitable evolution as a rider, which has at the same time left him feeling more confident in his ability to survive the tough terrain in Flanders, and which has also given him the sort of experience that might make him a valuable leadout man should his team request his services in that department, a possibility Farrar says he is “really looking forward to.” In short, Farrar, appears to be embracing the evolution as he rides into this new chapter of his career, wearing the stripes of a brand new kit.

“I think we all evolve as riders over the course of our careers,” Farrar said. “While I may not have quite the same raw speed I had a few years ago, I have gotten a lot stronger. That is one of the big reasons I have focused on the Classics this year. I am also really excited to be a part of the MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung project and to help it grow. I think we have the potential to win some big races this year and if I can help make that happen, whether I am the one crossing the line first or helping one of my teammates to do it, I will count 2015 as a success.”

Landing results in the big races is presumably exactly what MTN-Qhubeka was hoping for when they made the decision to bring in Farrar and the rest of their marquee offseason signings. With wildcard invites to Milano-Sanremo, all four WorldTour Cobbled Classics, and the Tour de France, the team will certainly have opportunities to notch those high-profile results, and the veteran presence of Tyler Farrar figures to be a major part of their campaign to achieve them this year.

-Dane Cash

Photo: MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung