Challenge Mallorca – Marcel Wyss «My preparation for the season is on schedule compared to last year»

The queen’s stage of the Playa de Palma Challenge Cyclista Mallorca took in a whopping seven categorized climbs and was won by Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).  The Spaniard won solo after dropping all his opponents already 30 kilometers from the finish.  Tim Wellens (Lotto) and Leopold König (Sky) joined Valverde on the podium.

IAM Cycling earned their place in the stage by way of Clément Chevrier, Jérôme Coppel and Marcel Wyss taking part in the day’s breakaway. Rubens Bertogliati, the directeur sportif for the Swiss Professional team was satisfied with the work of his riders for the day.

“We really had a typically Spanish stage with incessant movement on the course where there was seldom a straight line. During the briefing, I asked the riders to be careful and to go in the break. Clément Chevrier, Jérôme Coppel and Marcel Wyss all managed to do just that.  But in the pack with Sky leading the chase, there was not much room for maneuver.  Then, the favorites took the reins.  From our point of view, these two stages in the hills have allowed our climbers to test themselves and measure the amount of difficult work they need to do before our most important goals.”   

Riding his first official race since the 2014 Tour de France, Marcel Wyss did not save himself, and took away some good lessons before returning home to Switzerland.

“It was very difficult because the guys rolled à bloc every day.  But I am satisfied because I managed to slip into the break.  The sensations are good and I can verify that I am not late in my preparations compared to where I was last season.  There is still work to do, but if everything continues to go well, I should be competitive for my main targets.” 

Wyss’ teammate Jérôme Coppel was singing off the same song sheet after the race as he prepares to head to the Aigle velodrome to make tests on his bike next week.

“Yesterday I did succeed in getting into the break, but had a flat tire, and that was it.  I was not able to get back on terms.  But today, the legs were still good even if I was up at the end.  In the break I worked for a lot of miles and the sensations were good.”