Mathias Frank and IAM were not in contention for a win in yesterday's Tour du Doubs. However, the race was just the second for Frank since he crashed out of the Tour de France and so he was pleased with his performance.

After IAM Cycling won the Tour du Doubs in 2013, Cofidis succeeded in taking the honor in 2014.  At Pontarlier, Rein Taaramäe who attacked alone on the final climb, arrived at the finish line solo and was able to savor his victory after a daring breakaway. 

Since IAM Cycling did not place a rider in the break, the riders had to work all day to try and bring the initial group of 19 back, ultimately without success.  Aleksejs Saramotins ended the day as the best-placed rider from the Swiss Pro Continental team, taking 11th place.   

Back to business after six weeks of recovering from his fractured femur which he suffered in a crash during the Tour de France’s 7th stage, Mathias Frank was able to draw encouraging conclusions after his two races at the Tours du Jura and Doubs. 

“I am happy with my recovery.  Saturday I felt good and I hung in with the first group.  So I could look at my 11th place with satisfaction.  Today we were not able to slip into the break, but we really were riding well.  The young guys rode really hard, and they weren’t missing much in order to come back.  It was good training for next season certainly. 

"My next races will be at Milan-Turin, the Tour of Lombardy and Paris-Bourges.  Those events should allow me to regain my confidence, particularly riding in the pack as well as when descending.”

Marcello Albasini, directeur sportif for IAM Cycling, praised the collective performance of his youthful squad. 

“We did not make the break; we were missing maybe 500 meters, but the guys really gave everything.  For example, Roger Kluge showed me his SRM data.  This weekend, he managed to post his best numbers all season.”