26 March 2016
IAM Cycling
THE STATEMENT
This second place is not bad, Jérôme Coppel declared, especially after he had to abandon Paris-Nice early in the race due to illness. I felt good today, and was only narrowly beaten at the end. Thats sport. It will be important to keep an eye on FDJ, which will certainly ride strongly in order to defend Pinots lead for tomorrow. I will do my best and see how far I can take it in the end.
THE ANALYSIS
With two riders in the top ten, we can certainly be satisfied with our day out. However, Im not 100% happy because of course our goal was to win the stage today, Mario Chiesa, the teams directeur sportif said after the second stage of the Critérium International. Thibault Pinot, however, was very strong, and beat Jérôme Coppel back into second place by just two seconds. Tomorrow the most difficult stage follows, and Pinot will have a very strong team with FDJ at his back. Coppel is certainly in good shape, and we will do our best to fit into the top-5 comfortably with him.
THE DEFEATED
I am generally satisfied with my performance, explains Matthias Brändle. Similarly to my form in Paris-Nice, I am close, but again not close enough to be at the front. Unfortunately, I am still lacking a little something. But I am working hard, and I can see that I am getting closer and closer. I will certainly hope to be in my top form in time for my first big goal of the season which will be the Giro d’Italia.
THE FINALE
The third and final stage for the Critérium International will present all the riders with a complicated and ambitious program. With no fewer than four proper climbs before it will finish at the top of a serious mountain that will offer a grand finale for the riders after 14.1 kilometers with an average gradient of 6.2%. It is a stage that IAM Cycling won in 2014 with Mathias Frank.
Picture Coppel – BettiniPhoto2016 / others – IAM Cycling
