Matthias Brändle animates Roma Maxima

“I really wanted to get into the main break of the day.  The legs were good, but we never really had that much of a gap.  It was unrealistic to expect to be able to pull off a victory under those conditions.” 

Matthias Brändle laid his cards on the table when recounting his day.

Having proved himself something of a specialist in finding the long breakaways of a race, the Austrian IAM Cycling rider spent more than 100 kilometers at the head of the Roma Maxima before being hauled in, along with the rest of the break, by a fast charging peloton.

“Though we did have over seven minutes in hand at one point, the other riders in the break never really committed 100%.  With that being the case, I had no chance to work for a win myself.  Now I’ll go home and prepare for the Coppa Stresa and the Critérium International, but before that I am pleased that I will also be participating in the team’s first training camp that will focus on working towards the team time trial event at the World Championships this September.  Not everyone will be there, but it will prove useful to help us learn our roles and have the process become like second nature.”

Directeur sportif for IAM Cycling, Marcello Albasini, confirmed Brändle’s assessment for the day. 

“Matthias set off for the day with a mission to go for the victory.  But the others in the group did not have what it took to stay away till the end.  Aside from that, Movistar mounted a fierce charge from behind, with a view to launching Alejandro Valverde towards victory, which in the end worked.  On our side, we maintained a good position with Tschopp among the strongest in the chasing group behind Valverde and Pozzovivo.  We could also count on Wyss, Hollenstein and Fumeaux in the main peloton, just hovering behind.  Unfortunately, none of our guys were fast enough to take part in the sprint, though we did end up with five guys in the top 30.”