Santos Tour Down Under – IAM Cycling, Revenge the word of the day –

THE PLACE

5. This is the position IAM Cycling’s sprinter Leigh Howard took at the end of the fourth stage for the Santos Tour Down Under. “You can say I’m happy with the result, but not entirely satisfied,” the Australian rider admitted.   “Of course I was hoping to finish higher, but I will not mope about it. About 700 meters from the line, I lost a few places going through a roundabout, so I lost my good position and had to produce a big effort to come back. However, I can draw some positive conclusions for today because it has been a long time since I have been able to produce a sprint of this quality. I was finally able to show my legs, and my physical condition allowed me to get a pretty good result. I hope to do even better in the final stage on Sunday.”

THE STRATEGY

“We absolutely wanted to go on the attack in these stages, especially the ones on Friday and Saturday,” explained directeur sportif Kjell Carlström. “We had to react. And the least we can say is that our plan worked well. Of course we knew it would not be easy to stay awaysince Orica GreenEDGE would work hard for Simon Gerrans, but we had to try. Jarlinson Pantano was the first rider to make a serious attempt, but it was David Tanner who found the right breakaway that would last the longest. The stage certainly suited him, but in the end, the peloton brought his break back with about twenty kilometers to the finish. Atthat point in the race, we relied on Leigh Howard to stay in the front group in spite of the climb near the final. Leigh told me he was feeling good.Pantano was there also and helped to place Howard for the finale, where Leigh then finished the job. He has regained his very strong sprint, and proved that we can really rely on him.”

THE PROUD

The most aggressive prize is the reward for this stage raced inthe spirit of revenge. After having had a mixed start to the race, IAM Cycling has proved it has the heart to keep fighting in the face of disappointment at the Santos Tour Down Under. Not surprisingly, DavidTanner perfectly embodied this spirit by being one of the major players in the breakaway. As a result, he earned a visit to the podium to collect his bouquet as the most combative rider for the day.

THE NUMBER

1. With his fifth place this Friday, Leigh Howard earned his first World Tour points of the 2016 season for the Swiss team sponsored and nurtured by Michel Thétaz, CEO of IAM (manager IAMFUNDS.CH investment firm).

Pictures: Santos TDU / Regallo & Watson/Bettini