Serge Beucherie: «IAM Cycling has important assets»

Manager sportif, Serge Beucherie is calm after the first race of IAM Cycling’s second season, even if the 139.7 kilometer Grand Prix de La Marseillaise, which the team raced on Sunday, did not go quite as well for the Swiss squad as everyone would have wished.

“It was back to school for everyone.  We did not fulfill all our goals for the race.  But we will have more opportunities very soon, especially at the Tour of Qatar.  Sunday our result was satisfactory.  We didn’t do quite as well at La Marseillaise as we did last year where Marcel Wyss finished 13^th.  This year our best finisher was Sébastien Hinault in 20^th.  But in a bunch sprint like that, it is quite possible you can finish 8^th, 10^th or 15^th.”

While busy having meetings with race organizers, meetings with team managers, and preparing for the team’s participation for the Tour of the Mediterranean (13^th – 16^th of February), Serge Beucherie talks about the IAM Cycling goals throughout the season.

Serge Beucherie, how have you gone about defining the goals for the season?

IAM Cycling has definite strengths that we can focus on for 2014.  So with the beginning of the season we will have the first stage races and the classics to target before turning our attention to the Tour of Romandie, the Dauphiné Libéré, the Tour of Switzerland, and then ultimately our first participation in the Tour de France.  After that, we will want to put in a strong showing at the world championships, especially in the team time trial. 

What races in particular are you targeting with which riders?

Sylvain Chavanel has made no secret of his desire to fight for the win at the Paris-Nice.  It is a race that has always suited him, and IAM Cycling will be at his side to support him in his quest for the leader’s jersey.  Then we want to be competitive in the classics.  With the highly complementary duo of Heinrich Haussler and Sylvain Chavanel, we hope to outwit and outride the likes of Cancellara, Sagan and Rodriguez in races like Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubiax.  Then we have the climbers to play for races like Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Tour of Romandie.

What are your expectations for the stage races?

We certainly have strong riders for the variety of races. The Tour of Romandie, the Dauphiné Libéré and the Tour of Switzerland will be prominent among our goals for the year, even if the Tour de France remains the top priority.

Have you begun to shortlist the riders you will potentially take to La Grande Boucle?

We have started with the basis of a pre-selection of 15 riders with Sylvain Chavanel, Mathias Frank, Heinrich Haussler, Martin Elmiger, Thomas Löfkvist as well as Johann Tschopp certainly included on any initial list.  We will wait to reveal all the names since at this point in the season, everything from injury to illness can change who is available and ready.

What will be your goals at the Tour de France?

We know that we do not have the winner of the Tour de France on our squad.  But we will certainly seek to influence the race.  With everything from stages with cobblestone sections to the stages in the mountains, we will have our chances.  Winning a stage will already make our Tour a success.

The end of the season seems less interesting.  How will you try to attract attention?

Think again!  We have not lost our hope of being invited to the Tour of Spain and we also will work to win a podium place at the World Championships team time trial in mid-September at Ponferrada (Spain).  It is a major goal that we will carefully prepare for with specific steps.

Can you name the riders who will be preparing for that?

Indeed I can since we have already organized the group during training in Mallorca.  Matthias Brändle, Sylvain Chavanel, Reto Hollenstein, Roger Kluge, Gustav Larsson, Thomas Löfkvist, Aleksejs Saramotins and Marcel Wyss will be working throughout the season on the specifics.  In order to have a chance to win such a long 60 kilometer race for experts in the craft, the whole group must perform with a minimum of errors.  So we’re going to have them training on a closed race car circuit to make sure it becomes second nature to them.