"I’d be certainly happy to try" - Could Joe Dombrowski be Astana's new GC rider following Miguel Angel Lopez departure?

Joe Dombrowski could be set to lead Astana Qazaqstan Team's general classification hopes after the unceremonious exit of two-time Grand Tour podium finisher Miguel Angel Lopez.

With the Colombian's departure leaving Astana a rider short in the GC department, Dombrowski is willing to step in and fill the gap despite the American favouring a role that would give him to target stages. “If that’s what the team wanted, then I’d be certainly happy to try," Dombrowski says to VeloNews. “I would prefer to win a stage. But if the team gives me an objective, whether that’s to help a GC rider, to win a stage, or to even try and do GC myself, I’m happy to do any of those things and do it the best I can."

With a career-best Grand Tour for the American being a 12th place finish at the 2019 Giro d'Italia, does the 31-year-old back himself to challenge for the podium if given the lead role? "I don’t think so. Maybe someone thinks I can, but I think probably the answer is not,” he admits. “Even if you’re top 10, I guess it’s that whole weighing if you think it’s better to be ninth to overall on the GC or to win a stage a mountain stage?"

With Dombrowski's contract at Astana coming to an end at the end of 2023, there is some pressure on him to perform and secure a new deal at Astana or elsewhere. "When you’re 21 years old, if you finish top 10 it is worth a big contract so that probably makes sense. But when you’re 30 years old it has less value,” he says. "I don’t think there’s ever not pressure, or I would just say, if you don’t feel some pressure, then you’re probably not in the right place.”