Matthias Brändle shows strong sprint at Critérium International

Matthias Brändle proved that he has more than one string to his bow.  The Austrian IAM Cycling rider again showed off his diverse skill-set on the first day of the Critérium International.

Lover of long breakaways and specialist at solitary efforts, the time trial champion of Austria took a strong 6^th place in the half-stage morning before finishing in 15^th place in the afternoon time trial, which was run under the ideal temperature of 17° but with a chilly wind.  Brändle welcomed the opportunity to test himself in the morning.

“Ever since the beginning of the year, I have had good legs.  So I thought I’d try my luck with the sprint finish after I had already taken some bonus seconds along the way.  I enjoyed myself and I wasn’t missing much actually to make the podium. 

I knew this time I could rub shoulders pretty well in the mass sprint.  For the afternoon time trial, I was not able to give 100%, but I am still happy with my day.  Tomorrow I will help Mathias Frank, Sébastien Reichenbach, Marcel Wyss and Johann Tschopp because they helped me a lot today.  And we will be able to do something great with them tomorrow.”

For his part, Rubens Bertogliati, the directeur sportif for IAM Cycling, stressed the quality of both Brändle and Frank’s performance.

“I am very happy and also surprised to discover that Matthias Brändle is such a strong sprinter.  I like his approach.  One feels that he wants to show that he can do well.  In the time trial, I am very satisfied with Mathias Frank, who has really progressed since Paris-Nice.  He performs better and better, and this bodes well for the future.  We have a nice selection of cards to play in the queen stage because of our collective value.”

photos – Etienne Garnier @ VeloFotoPro

Avant-Course – Rubens Bertogliati – Crite?rium International from IAM Cycling