Vuelta Etapa 6 – Marcel Aregger «Difficult to find a rhythm»

Alejandro Valverde scored the first points on the initial summit finish in the 2014 Vuelta.  The rider from Movistar won the stage ahead of Christopher Froome (Sky) and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo), taking the leader’s red jersey in the process.  On the offensive since the start in Jerez de la Frontera, the IAM Cycling team experienced a difficult day.  Just two days after celebrating his 24^th birthday, Marcel Aregger rolled in 10’02” behind the winner, in 94^th place.  He was the best placed rider on the Swiss Pro Continental team.

Analyzing his day, the second year pro from Zug, Switzerland, down-played his performance.

“With the heat still scorching, I tried not to go too deep into the red.  Everything worked well on the first climb, but then things started going wrong when the big-guns really started having a go.  It was difficult to keep up and I tried to save myself for the final climb, which included 12% ramps.”  

Mario Chiesa, directeur sportif for IAM Cycling along with Marcello Albasini, was indulgent when assessing the performance of his team.

“We have many young guys who are doing their first Grand Tour.  The Vuelta is long and they have to guard their chances to go the distance.  We maybe expected a little more from Johann Tschopp, but he was just not on a good day.  Considering his abilities, I can imagine that the climbs that are scheduled for the 2^nd and 3^rd weeks will be more favorable.”