IAM is ready to make its long-awaited debut in the Tour de France and the team will ride in full support of Mathias Frank who will target the overall standings. In addition to the GC fight, the team will be involved in the battle for stage wins with riders like Sylvain Chavanel, Heinrich Haussler and newly crowned Swiss champion Martin Elmiger.

With the team’s first Swiss road race championship victory courtesy of Martin Elmiger, and two additional national time trial champions in the forms of Sylvain Chavanel (France) and Matthias Brändle (Austria), IAM Cycling comes to the start line of the Tour de France with a great deal of confidence.  On their way to Leeds, the nine riders selected to ride the Tour de France for the Swiss Pro Continental team took the opportunity on Wednesday to preview all the pavé sections of the fifth stage ending in Arenberg.

Beginning with the team’s formation in January of 2013, getting to the Tour de France was a primary objective. Now on the eve of the start of the race, Michel Thétaz, the founder of IAM Cycling and CEO of IAMFUNDS.CH, expressed his satisfaction recalling the road getting to this milestone. 

“For me, the Tour de France has become an obsession.  On Saturday when we start the first stage on the roads of Yorkshire, we will receive confirmation of the validity of our work the past 18 months in the peloton.  This is a great reward that highlights the quality of our riders and staff. 

"An invitation to the Tour de France is not a fluke.  We won and deserved our place through hard work at all times, and with plenty of victories and high placings that our riders earned while still perfectly representing the values I want to highlight.”

Buoyed by the strong performances of his riders which has brought the team no fewer than 9 victories since the beginning of the 2014 season, Michel Thétaz is convinced that they can continue the good momentum between Leeds and Paris. 

“We are not coming to the Tour de France with a sense of having already accomplished our goal.  We want to prove again that we deserve our invitation.  To do this, and following consultation with our sports directors, we want to race on two fronts, even if this may seem a bit ambitious for our first participation. 

"We may not have the overall winner on our team, but Mathias Frank is our sole leader for the 2014 Tour de France.  He has already demonstrated his qualities recently by finishing 2nd at the Tour of Switzerland.  We have built the team around him to help him finish as high as possible in the overall classification. 

"And with individuals as talented and experienced as Sylvain Chavanel, Martin Elmiger and Heinrich Haussler, we also will fight for stage wins.”