Serge Beucherie: «No question of burning out the riders»

The IAM Cycling team, like its sponsor IAM Investment Funds, takes the long-term view on things.

Though the team celebrated its first ever stage victory with Matteo Pelucchi’s stage 1 win at the Circuit de La Sarthe, IAM Cycling’s sporting philosophy has not changed.

The Swiss squad opened up its 2013 campaign with a strong showing at the GP de La Marseillaise, and intends to figure prominently in races until October.

Serge Beucherie, the team’s Sport Manager, confirms that his team has every intention to impact each race they enter.

Serge Beucherie, how did you plan out your schedule for this first season?

– With the input of the sports directors, we agreed to create two distinct poles for the first half of the season.  Our first goals would revolve around Heinrich Haussler and his mission to assert himself in the Flanderian and cobbled classics.  Then we would work with riders like Thomas Löfkvist and Johann Tschopp who will have high ambitions for the Ardennes Classics, and then the two major Swiss Tours of Romandie and Switzerland.  For us, there is no question of burning out the riders or asking too much of them physically.

Does that mean that you had to remove races from your schedule?

– To a certain extent.  Sometimes it just means resting the riders; for instance we did not force Thomas Löfkvist into the Critérium International squad, and we’ve left Johann Tschopp to rest and recuperate for the Tour of Romandie.  After Paris-Roubaix, Haussler and Elminger will take a rest.  To keep ourselves competitive and not spread ourselves too thinly, we did not request an invitation to the Dauphiné Libéré, preferring rather to focus on the Tour of Switzerland.  Our ultimate goal is to figure prominently in the World Tour results and not rely on Europe Tour classifications.  

Are you concerned about over-reaching yourself in your first season if you are invited to the Tour de France?  Naysayers might whisper that it could derail the whole second half of the IAM Cycling season.

– Our expectations are in line with what is normal for a professional rider.  By the end of June, our guys will have on average 45 days of racing in their legs, which is well within the normal boundaries.  If we are invited to the Tour, we will have a strong team to send, but will also take the precaution of waiving our application for participation in the Vuelta, since a small team like ours does have a limited amount of resources.  We will intelligently choose our schedule throughout the year, and even if we are at the Tour in July, we will not be closing our racing calendar in August, that’s for certain!