Janni Moscon blames overtraining at the start of the year for his sluggish 2019 season, but the Team Ineos rider took solace in a fourth-place finish at Sunday's rainy World Championship road race in Yorkshire.

Moscon, who ended his 2018 campaign with a victory at the Tour of the Guangxi interrupted by suspension, was aiming to make his Classic and Giro d'Italia debuts this year, but after a disappointing spring he was dropped from Team Ineos' selection. crashes at the UAE Tour for the Classic His preparation seemed to be affected, and he retired after two stages in Tirreno-Adriatico.

The Italian rider told La Gazzetta dello Sport that after a training camp in Colombia earlier in the season, this year "started badly and got even worse."

"The desire to do too much always gets me down. In the winter, I did more hours and hours of specific work than ever before. I did the same thing in Colombia at the beginning of the year. I did hours and hours and came home a 'corpse,' unable to recover because I didn't take 10 days off the bike," Moscon explained. [I was supposed to ride the Giro after the Classics, but I didn't get a chance to rest. But I didn't get a chance to rest. If I had known from the beginning that I would have to prepare for the Tour de France, it would have turned out differently. I went into the Tour with an exhausted body and was tired before it even started."

Moscon was not the only one to disappoint in July, but the team still took the top two steps of the Tour podium, with Egan Bernal taking the maillot jaune ahead of defending champion Geraint Thomas.

During the Tour, Moscon had gained about 8 kg.

"Three weeks later I was dead. Fatigue, (water) retention, and eating more ...... swelled up like a soccer ball," Moscon revealed.

"When I got home I weighed myself and found that I was around 70 kg at the start of the race, but I was almost 80 kg. I had gained at least 8 kg. I didn't even know what I was doing."

Moscon took an eight-day break immediately after the Tour de France and was away from racing for a total of six weeks before competing in the Tour of Britain.

He resumed his season with a training camp in the Italian Alps and much suffering while climbing the Passo dello Stelvio.

"Imagine what it was like to resume training on the Stelvio in those conditions. I almost cried."

Moscon was the star of the World Championships for the third year in a row.

In Innsbruck in 2017, he marked Julian Alaphilippe's move on the last lap but was disqualified after the race for accepting a tow from the Italian team car; a year earlier in Innsbruck, he finished fifth, with a decisive braking on Sunday. He supported teammate Matteo Trentin to fourth place. Trentin eventually finished in silver behind Mads Pedersen (Denmark).

Moscon will race again this weekend at the Giro delle Miglia for Il Lombardia, but the 25-year-old is already looking ahead to 2020.

"In any case, I have learned that certain mistakes should never be made again.