Approaching the end of his final grand tour, Sebastien Hinault has no more ambitions in the Vuelta a Espana. Like the rest of his IAM teammates, he only has one goal: to reach the finish in Santiago de Compostela.

Adam Hansen (Lotto-Belisol) grabbed himself a great solo victory on the 19th stage of the Tour of Spain.  Before the riders are to face the final mountain stage on Saturday, the overall contenders were content on Friday to control the race and the breakaway with a gentle grip. Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) maintained his margin as overall leader in front of a resurgent Christopher Froome.  IAM Cycling, meanwhile, was unable to place a rider in the lead group that contested the sprint for second place, which was won by John Degenkolb (Giant Shimano), five seconds behind Hansen.   
 
For the fourth time in this Vuelta, Sébastien Hinault, 73rd at 3’58’’, proved to be the best placed rider on the Swiss Pro Continental team.  Hinault, who is the veteran in the bunch, spoke of the overall fatigue and reduced manpower the team is suffering since several members had to retire from the race. 

“We are now only five and our turn comes quickly to try and get into the breaks.  In addition, we lost our climbers and the race is essentially padlocked by the Movistar, Saxo and Astana teams.  Unfortunately today, Vincente Reynes was not on a good day, otherwise he certainly could have been up there to challenge Degenkolb and company sprinting for 2nd place.  Now we have only one goal which is to see Santiago de Compostela on Sunday, though the final mountain stage will be a formidable obstacle.”
   
Rubens Bertogliati, one of the directeurs sportifs for IAM Cycling along with Mario Chiesa, was not about to contradict the team’s road captain. 

“The guys are tired and to be able to get into the break is not obvious.  In addition, the teams of the favorites are all very attentive.  There is no question of losing too much time.  Personally, I have seen a great performance from Hansen, and it would not be hard for me to believe that on the Worlds course in Ponferrada, we will be seeing a scenario similar to what we saw at the end of this stage.”