"I am still motivated and feel that I am very good physically" - Alexandre Balmer continues to fight for professional contact

Alexandre Balmer gave himself a small gift in the final stage of Tour de Romandie where he joined the breakaway of the day. However it's not all rainbows and butterflies for the 23-year-old Swissman, who is still without a contract as we enter May and negotiations have not been moving forwards lately.

"In this Tour de Romandie I rode with a bike that was dead," he says in conversation with DirectVelo. "I rode it for three seasons. There are 60,000 kilometers on the odometer, including a Paris-Roubaix... But at least I had an extra bike to train with. From now on, that is no longer the case." Balmer had to return his bike to his former employer Jayco AlUla after the race.

However, we may see Balmer at Pro-level soon. The Swiss was linked to Corratec - Vini Fantini, but no signing has been made yet, he says. "I would join them for this Tour de Romandie, but it needs more time. Mentally it was not easy this race, because I noticed that there was no progress. I said to myself: what am I going to do now?"

Balmer thinks he still has the level to perform in the WorldTour. "Of course I still have to improve. I'm four kilos heavier than I was, but it's not easy when the future is uncertain. I also lost my father at the end of last year. But I am still motivated and feel that I am very good physically."