Tour of Austria – Etape 7 – Patrick Schelling – We were also lucky to have Tanner in the break for this rather special stage –

The seventh stage of the Tour of Austria offered a light contrast in comparison to the previous days. With hardly a categorized climb, and having “only” 124.7 kilometers to cover instead of the 200 kilometers the pack has been averaging a day, the riders could take the opportunity to enjoy a day less painful.  At least in theory.  However, the race between Kitzbuhel and Innsbruck was hardly a gentle Saturday ride.  The short distance made for nervous racing and the stage ended with an impressive 48.5km/h average speed, which was clocked by today’s winner, Lukas Pöstberger (Tirol Cycling Team).  For IAM Cycling, David Tanner once again placed well in the advance group having been a member of the day’s break.  In form and well known from his one stage win and one second place finish in this Tour of Austria, the Australian rider was kept on a tight leash by his fellow escapees who knew his potential to take another victory.   

David Tanner knows as well as anyone that success is never built alone.  Besides his obvious strengths, Tanner can count on a strong team that is dedicated and welded to his side.  “Today it was a very short and fast stage because we rode it in around two and a half hours,” Patrick Schelling, one of the team’s top domestiques, explained.  “The guys did not need too many bottles to refuel on this stage, so my job was more to be vigilant in case one of my teammates needed me.”

“We were also lucky to have Tanner in the break for this rather special stage, since then we did not have to do any chasing duty in the peloton.  In the end, it was a bit quieter for me than usual.  But other days we have had many things to do to prepare our leaders for the finish.  As teammates, we have to ride hard at the head of the peloton in order to control the gap that the day’s break takes so that we can be sure to bring them back at the perfect time.  Then of course, we also have to drift back to the team cars so that we can collect the bidons for the rest of the team, especially when racing in the heat like now, and we have to hand the bottles to all the rest of the team.” 

There is no unimportant job in a well-balanced team.  Putting aside personal ambitions cannot be easy.  Some riders begin to commit themselves to the leaders less and less.  However, at IAM Cycling, all the riders do devote themselves to their leaders, as they did on Saturday for David Tanner, though he was not as lucky to win the stage this time.  “The objective clearly was to win the stage,” directeur sportif Kjell Carlström said.  “But it would be very difficult, we knew that.  David Tanner showed he has a very good top speed.  He has won once, he has finished second once, and so as they say that is a pretty good sign.  But in any case, it was good for us to be at the front again.”