Baloise Belgium Tour – Dries Devenyns – I knew how to ride intelligently –

THE EXPLOIT

Dries Deveyns’ victory. As a member of a break along with Reto Hollenstein and seven other riders with about twenty kilometers to the finish, the Belgian rider for IAM Cycling won a tough stage on Thursday. “I knew I had to ride intelligently throughout the stage,” Devenyns exclaimed. “I did try several times to extricate myself from the group, but I was far from having won the race. Fortunately, the cobbled areas did not mess up my day. I managed to follow the best over those sections, and then the victory was decided in a sprint. For this type of finish, you always have to rely on the luck factor. Somehow, Thursday, luck was on my side. Now we will focus on the general classification. Our goal will be to keep the jersey until the finish. We have brought a strong IAM Cycling team to this Tour of Belgium; we are much stronger than you might think.”

THE PERFORMANCE

Dries Devenyns and Reto Hollenstein doubled up on the overall classification. With Devenyns winning, and then Hollenstein finishing in eighth place for the second stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour, the two IAM Cycling strongmen have taken out a nice option on the general classification. “We have a pretty strong team to control the race tomorrow,” Eddy Seigneur confirmed. “This leader’s jersey we will take and defend. With Dries Devenyns, Reto Hollenstein and Oliver Naesen, we have the riders to respond to attacks.”

THE ANALYSIS

According to Eddy Seigneur: “The team did a remarkable race,” the directeur sportif emphasized. “Clément Chevrier crept into the break even though this is not really the sort of parcours he favors. And then Vicente Reynes took over matters when there was a counter attack with 30 kilometers to go. Finally, in the end, Reto and Dries were able to follow the favorites. Having this victory, and then taking the two top places on the overall classification highlights the great collaborative work by the team. It is during times of adversity that we see how big a team is. Michel Thétaz’s announcement about stopping the team at the end of the season has obviously affected all the riders and staff. But we are fighters. The IAM Cycling team is beautiful, and has the heart to show it.”

THE NUMBER

7 – This is the seventh victory for IAM Cycling this season, and the second for Dries Deveyns, who also won the Grand Prix La Marseillaise. The Swiss team has collected 26 podium finishes in total thus far for 2016.

THE ABANDON

Aleksejs Saramotins. The Latvian rider, who is recovering from an upper respiratory infection, dropped out of the race on Friday lacking the required form to compete effectively. By mutual agreement, the sports management and the team doctors have decided to give him the chance to recover properly in view of his future racing goals.

Finish line picture – Dieter Vanderlinden / other pictures – IAM Cycling