Jerome Pineau got very close to his first win for his new IAM team when he led the sprint in yesterday's GP Lugano until 50m from the line. The Frenchman takes confidence from the result and has now set his sights on Paris-Nice.

Jérôme Pineau did what he could to bring the first victory of the year to his IAM Cycling team. The SuisseGas Gran Premio Città di Lugano, however, ended by being won in a sprint by Mauro Finetto (Neri Yello Fluo).  

Pineau admitted that he could not have given more in the finishing straight.

“I managed to put myself in an ideal position after a tiny skirmish with Samuel Dumoulin.  After the final corner, I was perfectly placed as second wheel.  Then I even took the head place in the sprint.  My legs are good for sprints of 150 to 200 meters.  But I was caught with 50 meters to go.  So this 5th place is certainly good, but I am still disappointed.  This will give me more motivation and drive to try for a win at the Paris-Nice.” 

Jérôme Pineau also highlighted the good work done by the team after the day started off for them by missing the initial break.

“We were not present in the first strong breakaway that had 15 guys, and this forced us to go on the offensive.  From now on, we must be alert from the minute the race starts until we cross the finish line.”

Directeur sportif for IAM Cycling, Rubens Bertogliati, was pleased with Pineau’s result while also recognizing that the team put itself at a disadvantage by not placing a man in the strong early breakaway.

“Jérôme Pineau is a good guarantee.  He said he had good legs, and he proved it in the final, though a crash disrupted the scenario we imagined might happen.  In the end, the result is satisfactory, but we missed the boat early in the race.  We can find the bright side by looking at how well the guys worked at the front of the peloton to pull the pack back together and tighten the race as we had discussed in the briefing.”