Tour of Flanders – Oliver Naesen – I’m happy with this 22nd place –

THE QUOTE

“I’m happy with this 22nd place,” Oliver Naesen admitted after finishing this year’s Tour of Flanders. In this famous race that takes place practically in his backyard, the young Naesen found the reserves to stay with the strongest riders and finished as the best placed IAM Cycling member in the monument, which was won impressively by Peter Sagan. “I am still missing a percentage or two in order to compete with Sagan, Cancellara, and company on those intense final accelerations. But I’m not really hanging on the ropes. Considering the crashes and the accelerations required afterward, I paid the price for all those efforts.”

THE ANALYSIS

“We have not really been rewarded for our efforts, but there is no room for pity at the Tour of Flanders,” Thierry Marich, one of the directeurs sportifs for IAM Cycling at the race, philosophically explained.   “Dries Devenyns had not yet really recovered from his illness. Martin Elmiger crashed hard when he was well-placed at the front of the peloton. However, I did see that Oliver Naesen is indeed very promising. He no doubt has a great future at this race ahead of him in the coming years.”

THE ENTHUSIASM

“This has really been a festival for cycling purists as I have never seen before at a bicycle race,” enthused Michel Thétaz, CEO of IAM (manager of the IAMFUNDS.COM investment firm), accompanied by his two sports managers, Rik Verbrugghe and Serge Beucherie. “You have to relish these moments. I had already appreciated the beauty of Paris-Roubaix, but the Tour of Flanders is just incomparable.”

THE EXPLANATION

“I had already lost too much of my strength during the week to hope to be able to produce something special today,” Dries Devenyns regretfully explained. “In a race of this level, you have to be 100%. After three hours of racing, I had no strength to follow the moves; my tank was empty. It did not make sense to continue flogging myself. I will try to recover and be ready for La Flèche Brabançonne.”

THE LUCKLESS

Martin Elmiger. Victim of a crash on account of a loose water bottle rolling in his way, the 37 year old riders from Zug in Switzerland had to abandon the race after about 120 kilometers with an injured left wrist. After having had an inconclusive x-ray at the hospital in Oudenaarde, the road captain of IAM Cycling returned to Geneva to undergo further tests at the University Hospitals in Geneva, HUG.

Pictures – BettiniPhoto2016