The Tour of Romandie began its 68th edition with mild conditions in Ticino, the Italian region of Switzerland.  And after all riders had passed the line, it was Michal Kwiatowski (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) who put his stamp on the stage by clicking the fastest time around 5.570 kilometer course through the streets of Ascona. 

 

Having been invited to participate in this World Tour event, IAM Cycling proved their collective strength by placing three of its riders within the top 30 in this prologue, which acted as an appetizer for the time trial specialist. 

 

Matthias Brändle proved to be the best IAM Cycling finisher in 7th place just seven seconds behind the winner.  As the current Austrian time trial champion, Brändle felt satisfied with his ride. 

 

“I am happy with my prologue through Ascona.  I really gave my maximum on this course, which was both technical and fun.  I am motivated for this race since we have several exciting cards to play.  I am well prepared since I really want to be one of the guys to animate the race, like I did in 2013, and also to help Mathias Frank who is our leader for the overall.  The sensations in my legs were good, so there is no reason to change that plan.”

 

Reto Hollenstein (26th) and Marcel Wyss (30th) were the other two IAM Cycling riders to crack the top 30.   As for Mathias Frank (54th), he had some trouble finding his rhythm in the short violent effort. 

 

“I had neither a good nor a bad day, but I can say that I did not feel very comfortable.  I certainly still felt the hangover from Sunday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège.  I had a good start in the first half of this beautiful course, but I got a little stuck on the back end.  It is true too that I am typically more comfortable in the longer time trials.”