12 February 2013
IAM Cycling
“Another good day with good results!
The stage once again started as yesterday, with two riders in the break. They got caught at the first hill around 20km to go. The sun was hot as every day and we almost ran out of drinks for the riders, but with a little help from our assistants-masseurs we got enough for everyone.
The first hill was really steep and strung out the peloton on the winding downhill. Pirmin Lang, Reto Hollenstein, Kristof Goddaert and Sébastien Hinault did a great job to put the others in a perfect position for the final climb around 6km before the finish.
From there on it was full gas and the group was much smaller. At only one kilometer left there was still a small hill where Martin Elmiger together with Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Tony Gallopin (Radioshack) attacked. However, there was still one rider to pass them, Peter Sagan (Cannondale): He went for a solo victory.
Anyway, Martin did great by finishing 3rd and in the sprint for the seventh place Marco Bandiera showed that he has worked hard this winter.
Johann Tschopp and Jonathan Fumeaux were also in that group, so they are still in contention for the mountaintop finish on stage 4.”
