Jérôme Pineau «Everything’s rolling at the Tour Med»

Even if John Degenkolb (Giant Shimano) scored his second stage win in two days at the Tour of the Mediterranean, IAM Cycling is biding its time, looking for its own chances.  Ever present at the pointy end of the peloton, the Swiss team hopes that by the final finish on Sunday at the top of Mont Faron, it will reap some of the rewards that a winter of hard work should yield.

And shortly before heading off to the showers and an evening of recovery, Jérôme Pineau (34 years old) reiterated that indeed the team is setting itself high goals.

“Everything is rolling along great for IAM Cycling at the Tour Med.  With the exception of Marcel Wyss’s crash, which I hope was not too bad, we had a good day.  We were in the breakaway that had four or five riders.  And we showed that we have riders with good form over the Petit-Galibier climb.  And in the end, we arrived to put Sylvain Chavanel into position before the sprint so that he wouldn’t risk losing sloppy seconds before the time trial.”   

A newcomer to the team, Pineau excels as the live wire in any group, and is enjoying the friendly atmosphere at IAM Cycling.

“We still have to tweak some aspects of how we work together, especially in the sprints, so that how to do the perfect set-up becomes second nature to all the guys.  But that will come with experience and getting to know each other a little better.  For the rest, there is absolutely nothing wrong and we all get along very well.  There is no question that everyone is doing his maximum to do the best job possible.  I have no doubt that we will get a big win in the pretty near future.”

photos – Etienne Garnier @ VeloFotoPro.com