Sébastien Reichenbach 16th at the Tour de Suisse

At just 24, Sébastien Reichenbach has many good years ahead of him.

Born in the Valais region of Switzerland, the IAM Cycling rider has worked hard for the luxury of finishing as the best placed rider on his team, ending in a promising 16^th place overall.

Considering this is his first participation in his national tour, Reichenbach has proved his qualities and hinted at real promise for the future.

He is also refreshingly modest when evaluating his own performance.

“I learned a lot during these ten days.  If I managed to avoid a lot of traps, it is thanks to my reliance on my teammates for advice.  It’s just such a shame that so much bad luck has accompanied us throughout the race.  Of course, that is just part of the game.”

Johann Tschopp meanwhile was the first to take his hat off to his young teammate.

“Sébastien has an amazingly bright future.  He produces more power than I do, and I’m a pure climber.  Throughout the week, he pulled more than his fair share of the weight, even though this was his first tour lasting ten days.  Personally, I wasn’t missing much to get a great victory; I was very close at Crans-Montana.  It would have been fantastic to win such a big stage so close to my home.  The return of the cold and rain negatively impacted my chances to get a victory at Meiringen. I didn’t have enough to hold my break at La Punt, since the general was lost.  I attacked early and perhaps a little too fast, but I’d prefer to try and fail than to sit in the wheels and only gain a lesser place of honor.”

Throughout the week, IAM Cycling has suffered a heavy toll in injuries.

Heinrich Haussler fractured his pelvis and hip.  Marcel Wyss will leave nursing multiple bruises and bodily pain after two hard crashes in the space of three days.

Nevertheless, Michel Thétaz, the owner and CEO of IAM Funds, remains not only optimistic, but enthusiastic as well.

“IAM Cycling will not stop en route.  We have a great team and the results that we have obtained since the beginning of the season attest to our quality.  We will continue to improve until the end of the year and will be even stronger next year, which will allow us to continue our forward progress.”

IAM Cycling results on the Tour de Suisse