Frank hoping to start 2013 Tour de France

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Entering his fifth year with the BMC Racing Team, Mathias Frank is hoping to make his Tour de France debut with the team that includes the 2011 winner Cadel Evans and this year's winner of the young rider classification Tejay van Garderen. With no personal victories this year, Frank is also driven to make the most of his opportunities in smaller races.

"I'm ready to be a helper in bigger races and will probably traveling a lot with our Tour specialists next year," Frank told Radsport-news.

"For the smaller races I want to take my chance and establish myself as a candidate in the general classification top-10," he said.

Frank was consistently in the top-10 at most of the stage races throughout the season with a 10th-overall at Giro del Trentino, that also included victory in the team time trial and a day in the leader's jersey, and 10th at Tour of Utah among his best general classification results. The Swiss rider also achieved top-20 overall placings at the Tour de Suisse and USA Pro Cycling Challenge.

"I lacked a real top result, such as a victory or a top position in the overall classification, as I did last year at the Tour de Suisse but I've driven consistently all year and I noticed that I'm not missing so much to keep up the very front," said Frank.

The BMC rider's first race of 2013 has not yet been release however, he began his season with Tour Down Under in 2012 and Australia could once again be his first stop on the WorldTour circuit. For the rest of the season, Frank insists that with a little more and some greater motivation he should find his results improving.

"I am somewhat disappointed, I made mistakes, had some bad luck or just had the feeling that I didn't push the envelope. I think I've learned from my mistakes and I am motivated to work even harder next year for me," added Frank.