IAM Cycling still waiting for that break

La 2e étape de Paris-Nice s’est encore terminée par un sprint massif.

The second stage of the Paris-Nice yet again finished in a mass sprint. In the final straight of a rolling finish, Marcel Kittel (Argos) redeemed himself, after having completely missed out in the stage one sprint, by finishing decisively in front of second placed Elia Viviani (Cannondale); Viviani’s performance was enough to net him the new race lead after overnight leader Nacer Bouhanni was forced to abandon due to a crash.

Heinrich Haussler ended the day as IAM Cycling’s best placed rider in 39th overall just 17 seconds back thanks to a massive pull given by Stefan Denifl that almost resulted in Denfil’s riding away from the peloton 3 kilometers from the finish. IAM Cycling’s Directeur Sportif Eddy Seigneur is convinced that all the good efforts made by his young protégés will bear fruit very soon:

“The day proved long for everyone, especially the riders. Near the end Stefan took his chance to get away when he realized he had a bit of a gap, but in the end, no one was going to escape from that pack charging at full speed. But I’m certain it will happen for us soon. Heinrich certainly is in good condition and position to take a finish like this.”

Teammate Johann Tschopp was able to be more satisfied with his evaluation of his day versus how Monday’s stage into Nemours went.

“Everything went a lot better for me. I was not dropped and managed to finish with the main pack. The final was far from easy, and really designed for the strongmen in the peloton, as the occupants of the podium steps can testify.”