In 2017, Colin Rivera landed in Europe for his first full elite season on the continent and quickly conquered everything in sight with strong wins at the Trofeo Alfredo Binda and Tour of Flanders. It was a decisive spring for the American, who already had an illustrious career.

In the past two spring campaigns, Rivera has fallen somewhat short of her high expectations as illness and crashes have taken their toll, and in both 2018 and 2019, it took until early summer for the 27-year-old to find her footing and begin to rack up wins.

"I have the same goal, so I'm targeting spring, and that's part of the Olympic qualifying period for Americans. I'm going to keep racing all the way to the World Championships," she told Cycling News at the Sunweb team launch in Amsterdam.

"I didn't have the spring I was hoping for this year. There were some illnesses, some crashes, but those things happen. Sometimes you can't control things in racing. But after I came back, I had a good summer and placed 10th at the World Championships. But I was 10th at the World Championships.

Rivera came to Europe full-time in 2017 as part of the Sunweb team. At that point, his road talent was well documented, and he had competed in many of the Classics the previous year as part of the US team, but no one expected him to win two major one-day races so quickly after his move.

"Looking back over the past three years in Europe, there is no perfect science behind it.

"2017 was the least unlucky year and it's all about how things turn out. In fact, I don't think it's about luck, it's about how much negativity came in. There is no formula for a perfect spring. You can come in with the best conditions and still crash."

Perhaps one of the reasons Rivera has not reached the heights of 2017 is that most of his experience was new in his debut season and the level of expectation was lower than it is now.

"That may be part of it," she admitted.

"Also, it was my first year, so I was trying to prove that I could start well, that I wasn't a wimp, etc. There was a little bit of that too. And the second year, I set the bar pretty high the year before, so it was harder for me to do as well or better."

Rivera's 2020 race calendar has not yet been finalized, but Sunweb will announce its rider roster for several key targets at its training camp in Calpe, Spain, next week.

One event that Rivera certainly has his sights set on is the Olympic road race in Tokyo in the summer. The American narrowly missed selection for the Rio Olympics in 2016, but is determined to make the four-rider roster next year.

"I've always wanted to go since I was a kid and I was so close to Rio. But it's looking good for me. I just want to have a healthy spring and show myself off, because it's going to be a team of four, so it's not like a normal race, so it's hard to say what my role is going to be."