Raced under sunny skies and almost spring-like temperatures, the GP della Citta di Lugano ended with Niccolo Bonifazio (Lampre-Merida) winning the sprint. IAM Cycling had riders in the winning front group, and so succeeded in taking high places in the event. David Tanner proved best of the team in 9th place. Sébastien Reichenbach finished in 12th and Jaelinson Pantano in 16th.
Before being congratulated by local and recent retiree Cadel Evans, who was on hand to attend the race, David Tanner was realistic in speaking of his place in the top-10.
“I’d prefer to fight for victory helping a teammate faster than me in this kind of arrival. Today everyone had his own chance. We stuck together all day and were very good about anticipating the moves. We had two riders, Pirmin Lang and Jérôme Coppel, in the group of 17 that escaped, and so all the rest of us had to do was sit tight in the wake of the teams who had to work to bring them back. Then Jonathan Fumeaux and Sébastien Reichenbach both tried an attack on the final climb, but each time the peloton was able to reel them back in. Personally, I did not have that great of legs. I improved as the laps progressed, and then waited for the sprint knowing that I was not one of the best twenty riders in contention for the win.”
Directeur sportif for IAM Cycling, Rubens Bertogliati, was impressed with the good teamwork particularly in view of the fact that they didn’t have a real punchy sprinter for the finish.
“When the breakaway took off with 17 riders, I thought maybe that would go all the way. But the Italians did not want to believe in it, and the work in the group was not very productive. In the final sprint, we didn’t have a guy like Heinrich Haussler who would have been able to light the fire and finish with punch and flair.”
Nick STÖPLER 34 years | today |
Ryoma WATANABE 23 years | today |
Nico CLAESSENS 39 years | today |
Michel SUAREZ 38 years | today |
Marc SOLER 31 years | today |
© CyclingQuotes.com