Paris-Nice – Stage 2 – Jonas Van Genechten «There will be a day when it pays off»

Once again the wind, as expected, was conspicuously absent.  That meant that there was no chance of echelons either. But despite a rather quiet day in the peloton, the lead up to the finish line was exciting and nervous.  To cap off this stage that ended with a sprint near the Beauval Zoo, André Greipel (Lotto Soudal), affectionately known as the Gorilla from Rostock in the peloton, raised his arms in victory.  The Swiss IAM Cycling team snuck in another rider into the top-10 with Jonas Van Genechten coming in 9th place.

Strong finishes are good for the morale, even if it is not a win.  For Eddy Seigneur, having Van Genechten place so well in a sprint among some of the greats, is a good omen for the rest of the season.  “I think this will give Jonas a shot of confidence for sprints in the coming weeks where he will have some opportunities.  It is also good for him because it proves that he has recovered physically,” Seigneur, the team’s directeur sportif, confirmed.  This result proves that IAM Cycling is really the equivalent of the Swiss Army knife with so many tools at its disposal.  “We have several sprinters like Heinrich Haussler and Matteo Pelucchi, but we also have Jonas who can really hold his own on a hilly course,” Seigneur continued.  “That’s a good thing since in there will be many races in the near future where Jonas could be in a small group at the front of a race and realize that he too can fight for the victory.”

The Swiss professional team knows it needs to be active each stage in order to achieve the end goal, which is a victory.  “It was not our duty to ride today, but we knew that if we wanted a chance to play for the win, we would have to help reduce the gap to the breakaway rider for this second stage,” the IAM Cycling DS commented.  “It’s part of our job.  Arnaud Gerard had seven minutes and the peloton was not working that hard, but once the group started to roll in earnest, then the gap started to come down quickly.  But since we weren’t sheltered, we had to anticipate the finish from far out, and tried to bridge the gap as soon as possible, because we did not know what would happen.”

Jonas Van Genechten was able to anticipate how the final would unfold in the streets of Saint-Amand-Montrond.  “The pace was driving hard on the last local circuit, just like yesterday in the final kilometers,” the Belgian rider confirmed.  “For the sprint, it was all a bit of a tangled mess, but we were well positioned, so we really should do better next time. In any case, we will try to get another good result tomorrow.  The goal is always to do better and better, so that one day all the hard work will pay off.”