Pirmin Lang «One of these days, it’s going to work out»

“I’m not frustrated.  Martin Kohler and I really gave our maximum, but it was not enough.”

Pirmin Lang put his day into perspective as soon as he crossed the finish line in Montreux.  Though the stage two victory went again to Michael Albasini (Orica GreenEDGE), Lang was not left with a bitter taste in his mouth.

“We started our break from the drop of the flag.  Facing a head wind, we used up a lot of energy in the first few kilometers just to get away.  We could have used that strength that was missing in those last few kilometers of the final.  We spent more than 160 kilometers off the front together, but we had an idea of what the situation was.  The sprinters teams from the World Tour were not going to let this opportunity pass.  We’ll have more chances before Sunday.”  Lang already has proved his skills in escapes as recently as the Amstel Gold and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and was in agreement with his breakaway companion.  “I raced with Martin Kohler on the same elite amateur team (Bürgi) before he joined BMC.  So we agreed to share our points from the king of the mountains and the sprints.”

On the eve of the queen stage for the Tour of Romandie, Mathias Frank enjoyed a day without any particular problems, and even was keen enough to mingle in the final sprint, snatching a very respectable 11^th place.

Johann Tschopp made sure to grab the KOM points that remained on the roads after the two escapees took the first spots, and so succeeded in keeping his king of the mountains jersey.  Tschopp set the tone for the appointment that awaits them on Friday.

“The climbs will be difficult.  Not only that, but the weather forecasts are not good.  We really need to close ranks around Mathias Frank to help him target the stage and keep an eye on the general classification.  Fortunately we have a great group of guys for this kind of job.  I just hope the cold is not too extreme.”