IAM will go into the Giro d'Italia with a strong sprint train to support Matteo Pelucchi.

“I hope that the team reiterates and confirms its attacking temperament,” IAM Cycling founder, Michel Thétaz, explained.  “That sort of aggressive riding should give us at least one chance, whether in a sprint or mountain stage, to go for the win.”

Rik Verbrugghe, IAM Cycling’s sports manager, is keeping his feet on the ground when setting the objectives for his nine riders scheduled to participate.  “We won’t be looking for a place in the top-10 overall.  I would definitely like to see an increasingly aggressive team try to win a stage by going into intelligent breakaways.  And then we also have several strong sprinters for the fast finishes, including Matteo Pelucchi, Leigh Howard, and Heinrich Haussler.”

Since the Grand Depart is set to take place at Apeldoorn in the Netherlands, the RCS who organizes the Giro, have scheduled the prologue for Friday, May 6th.  And then after two stages that will take place in the vicinity of the Dutch city, the whole travelling circus will then transfer more than 3000 kilometers to continue the race at the tippy toe of the country in Catanzaro (Calabria).

Matthias Brändle has set himself the goal of taking the first pink jersey of the race by winning the 9.8km prologue through the streets of Apeldoorn.  The former holder of the world hour record will certainly have formidable competition in this event, starting with none other than Fabian Cancellara (Trek-Segafredo).

Line-up:

Matthias Brändle (Aut)

Stefan Denifl (Aut)

Heinrich Haussler (Aus)

Leigh Howard (Aus)

Roger Kluge (All)

Matteo Pelucchi (It)

Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor)

Larry Warbasse (USA)

Marcel Wyss (S)