Tour of Austria – Etape 8 – Kjell Carlström «I saw the wolf pack I wanted to see»

David Tanner, once again playing for the stage victory took big steps, as well as a few centimeters, to finish this Tour of Austria in style; he grabbed second place on the stage behind Moreno Moser (Cannondale).  In the overall standings, Victor de la Parte (Team Vorarlberg) kept his lead, while IAM Cycling could feel pleased with having placed two riders in the top-10.  In addition to Thomas Degand and Stefan Denifl, eighth and tenth respectively, the team also comes away with two stage wins and two second places, which proves that the Swiss team was very active and successful within this international field. 

Tanner could have been forgiven if he had had a feeling of regret or at least a sense of disappointment after this last stage.  However, in his own words having crossed the finish line, he only had positive feelings as a result.  “I would like to thank my teammates, and especially Larry Warbasse and Clément Chevrier who did an amazing job for me on Sunday,” the Australian rider said.  “To finish second instead of first, I can really only blame myself, and certainly not them.  I made a mistake at the end, and I was not positioned where I should have been, but that was my fault.  They gave absolutely everything of themselves to me.  I am happy with my second place, but I would have liked to get the win, especially for them.  I am pretty fit at the moment, and I trained hard for this.  But what I will remember most is that what the public saw at the Tour of Austria is a truly united and happy IAM Cycling team.  I took great pleasure in riding and working with them.”

The notion of a happy collection of riders is also something that Kjell Carlström emphasized when discussing the week of racing.  “For IAM Cycling, it’s been a very good Tour of Austria,” Carlström reiterated.  “We won two stages, finished second twice, and we have two riders in the top-10, not to mention the best Austrian as a bonus, so we cannot complain.  At a group level, I saw the type of cohesion that I wanted to see.  I’m very happy with how we have taken hold of the race.”