The fourth and final stage of the Skoda Tour of Luxembourg finished well for the IAM Cycling team yesterday. Though Matthias Brändle had held second place overall and the best young rider’s jersey on Saturday evening, it looked as though he would be going home empty handed after Bob Jungels, RadioShack-Leopard’s Luxembourgish prodigy, won the stage in front of Paul Martens. 

But Jungels was penalized after the race jury decided he benefited from a relay given to him by teammate Danilo Hondo on the final climb. IAM Cycling’s Brändle, who is also the Austrian national time trial Champion, finished fifth on the stage, just a few seconds in front of his teammate Jonathan Fumeaux in 6th place, and succeeded in retaining his best young rider’s jersey and 4th place overall in the general classification, thanks in part to the penalty incurred by Jungels. 

On his side, Jonathan Fumeaux finished 8th overall and in 3rd place in the classification for best young rider. For IAM Cycling Directeur Sportif Eddy Seigneur, missing out on a victory or winning a jersey classification points to the quality of the field racing this event. “The final this year was much harder than in previous years. The guys did everything they could and tried to push themselves to their limits, but the decision was made pedal stroke by pedal stroke. There were important clients at the start, so I wanted to raise Matthias and Jonathan’s performance throughout the week.”