The first stage of the Eurométropole, former known as the Circuit Franco-Belge, witnessed Jens Debusschere (Lotto-Belisol) winning the mass sprint and taking over the leader’s yellow jersey.

IAM Cycling is present and eager to shine during the four stage race, a fact underlined by Kristof Goddaert’s strong performance on the stage. The 26 year old Belgian rider, who finished 8th on a stage at the difficult Tour of Oman, found the opening to escape and participated in the day’s breakaway where he was able to grab bonus points which position him strongly in 5th place overall. 

Marcello Albasini, one of IAM Cycling’s team directors, welcomed the good work of his group, despite the unfortunate crash and contusions Dominic Klemme suffered:

“In the morning briefing, we talked about participating in the day’s break. But it was not all that obvious which one that would be.  Finally Kristof found the opening and worked hard to pick up points and bonus seconds.  In a stage race of this sort, that effort could pay dividends later.” 

Meanwhile, Kristof Goddaert explained his own reasons for wanting to finish the season with a strong performance.

“My training has been pretty much on track these past few weeks. And that served me well when I made the break. During the first hour we drove 53 km/hr. Then I started grabbing the points and bonuses, since I knew very well that the sprinter teams would put their head down and chase us, so that we had no chance to go after the stage win. So we drifted back into the pack with about 10 kilometers to go, and the team refocused its efforts to look to placing Haussler for the sprint. Kevyn Ista, Matteo Pelucchi and Sébastien Hinault did a lot of work for him at the end, but against teams like Lotto, who specialize in this sort of final tortuous lead out speed, we were basically powerless.”