The Tour de l’Ain ended positively for the Swiss Pro Continental team IAM Cycling in spite of the fact that all of the team members’ thoughts were with Johann Tschopp, who broke his left collarbone in three places and was successfully operated on yesterday morning at the University of Geneva Hospital. 

Nevertheless Sébastien Reichenbach delivered a remarkable performance in the two main mountain stages, as well as in the prologue on Friday. In yesterday’s fourth and final stage, won by Wouter Poels (Vacansoleil), Reichenbach finished fourth and secured a similarly high overall position, though the overall victory went to the great French hope Romain Bardet (AG2R – La Mondiale).

 AM Cycling’s strong showing did not end there since Matthias Brändle was also able to secure the best climber’s jersey. The young 23-year-old Austrian managed to join the day’s breakaway with the intention of being of service to Reichenbach later in the stage. 

“I really wanted something to remember after having failed to win the stage into Oyonnax. Everything went well in the early stages of the race and I succeeded in taking the points over the first three climbs. When the favourites rejoined us, I managed to give Sébastien a hand since he was alone at that moment. Winning this polka dot jersey is a great reward and motivation to prepare for racing at the Worlds time trial in Florence.” 

For his part, Sébastien Reichenbach finished just one place away from the coveted podium. “I still burn a little with disappointment. I was really good all day and thanks to Matthias I could wait for the right moment to attack on Le Grand Colombier. I ended up with Romain Bardet and Poels at the summit.  They made the descent, but just before the end there were some very tight curves and I was a bit scared. I still had the images of Johann crashing in my mind. So in the end, I was not able to hold their wheels. At the bottom I was distanced by 5 seconds, and the train was gone. It’s the law of this sport, but without question, I can improve. I’ll definitely be a little better for next week’s Tour du Limousin.”