Le Grand Départ of the Tour de France is always an unusual event.  After seeing the human wave that welcomed the race for the first days in England last year, the Netherlands have also managed to confirm their passion for the bicycle. 

The race that started with a 13.8 time trial through the streets of Utrecht resulted unsurprisingly in a duel of experts in this discipline.  Former hour record holder Rohan Dennis (BMC) took the bouquet ahead of Tony Martin (Etixx-Quickstep), Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory) and Tom Dumoulin (Gian-Alpecin).  The Australian rider covered the course with an average speed of 55,446 km/h, which is also a record for the fastest individual time trial in the history of the Tour de France.  

In this battle of the rouleurs, IAM Cycling did not go unnoticed thanks to Matthias Brändle.  For his baptism by fire at the Tour, the Austrian chalked up a fantastic 7th place just 23 seconds behind the winner.

When asked about his day, Brändle was pleased with this introduction. 

“I managed to give the best of myself in front of the huge crowd and impressive atmosphere.  I started off a touch easily since I was afraid of weakening by the finish.  By mid-race, I tried to increase my pace.  This allowed me to finish stronger than some others. 

"I am really pleased.  I have never seen so many people on the roadside.  It was very impressive to ride in a kind of channel edged off by spectators.  I couldn’t even hear the directions that the directeur sportif was telling me over the radio since the crowd noise was so great.  In the end, I managed to join the top-10, which was my goal for this stage at the Tour de France.”

Rik Verbrugghe, the manager sportif who will be assisted by Eddy Seigneur and Mario Chiesa, emphasized the difficulty of managing a race against the clock. 

“On this course, it was essential to have good legs while still being able to withstand the heat.  With the temperatures nonchalantly hitting over 30°, the athlete’s body is pushed to the limit.

"Matthias Brändle succeeded in posting a very good time.  His 7th place is evidence of that, even if I felt he started off a little too slowly.  But his strong acceleration midway through still allowed him to take a choice position in the elite top-10.”