Vuelta a España – Stage 7 – Jerôme Coppel – I intend to win a stage by getting into the right break and taking it to the end –

It took until the seventh stage and the first summit finish of the Vuelta to see a breakaway succeed.  Having escaped with four other riders, Bert-Jan Lindeman (Jumbo-Lotto) got the jump on his breakaway companions to win solo while his nearest competitor, Ilia Koshevoy (Lampre – Merida), was nine seconds behind. Esteban Chaves (Orica – GreenEDGE) was himself quite comfortable on the climbs, as he has already shown throughout this Vuelta, and was never in danger of losing his red leader’s jersey during the 190.8 kilometer stage. 

He remains ten seconds ahead of Tom Dumoulin (Giant – Alpecin).  In contrast to the efforts of Lindeman and Chaves, IAM Cycling did not manage to animate the stage, though perhaps they will have some more firepower for upcoming opportunities.  Such a tact is uncustomary for the Swiss team.  But they will be even more motivated to tackle the race in the coming stages.

With this in mind, Jérôme Coppel intends to take a bite for himself out of this Vuelta.  He already believes he is feeling stronger as the days progress, and intends to make proper use of his opportunities.  “I’m feeling better, but I still lack some race rhythm,” Coppel explained.  “I am still having some heart burn, but I know that everything will get back to normal soon. The Vuelta is far from over and I intend to win a stage by getting into the right break and taking it to the end.”

Finding the right breakaway was exactly what IAM Cycling was hoping to do today.  Since they didn’t manage to do that, directeur sportif Mario Chiesa was somewhat annoyed with the situation.  “To be honest, I am not really satisfied with how the team raced today,” Chiesa explained after he had been debriefed with the riders.  “We told them this morning that we wanted someone at the front, but we still missed the boat.  I think that if a rider like Jérôme Coppel had been up front with the leaders, he could have been a serious contender for the victory.  But we will not repeat the race; this is what happened, and that’s just too bad.   Now we will focus on our attempts to land a hit on another stage, because I still do believe that we have a good chance with the riders that we have here.  We will be more demanding with them so that they will be more present and influential in the bunch.”