Lining up without defending champion Martin Elmiger, IAM will field a big part of their Tour de France roster in the Tour du Limousin which starts tomorrow. The team have no big ambitions for the race as they first need to see how Sylvain Chavanel, Jerome Pineau, Heinrich Haussler and Sebastien Reichenbach have recovered from the Tour.

Races follow one after the other, but not all are alike for IAM Cycling. After the Vuelta a Burgos and the Arctic Race of Norway, IAM Cycling will tackle the treacherous roads around Limousin before moving onto the Classic de l’Indre. 

Martin Elmiger, who won a stage and the overall at Limousin in 2013, will not be joining the line-up to defend his title since he will be busy resting up after his hard ride though the Arctic regions of Norway. Consequently, the Swiss Pro Continental team will be comprised of riders who are less likely to make a large impact.   

Eddy Seigneur, who will be a directeur sportif along with Kjell Carlström, put his cards on the table when discussing the realistic ambitions of his squad. 

“The Limousin race will be one of recovery for many of our riders.  Although we have a great team lined up, it will be important to see how Chavanel, Haussler, Pineau and Reichenbach in particular have recovered after the Tour.  

"We’ll know more after the first stage, which will almost certainly prove decisive for the overall victory.  If we do not have riders well-placed for the general classification, then we will target stage victories. 

"It is also up to us to make our new trainee Claudio Imhof comfortable in his environment in his first race so that he can show us beautiful things.  But I am not worried since I know the kinds of professionals who will be racing this event which is anything but easy.”

Tour du Limousin (Tuesday, August 19th – Friday, August 22nd)
Riders: Sylvain Chavanel (F), Heinrich Haussler (Aus), Claudio Imhof (S), Kevyn Ista (Bel), Dominic Klemme (Ger), Jérôme Pineau (F), Sébastien Reichenbach (S).
 

Classic de l’Indre (Sunday, August 24th)
Riders: Matthias Brändle (Aut), Sondre Holst Enger (Nor), Claudio Imhof (S), Kevyn Ista (Bel), Dominic Klemme (Ger), Simon Pellaud (S), Sébastien Reichenbach (S).