IAM Cycling has had a successful start to its 2013 Swiss National Championships campaign in Satigny.

In the individual time trial, which took the riders twice around a 19 kilometre circuit, Martin Elmiger and Reto Hollenstein took the two places of honour on the podium alongside winner Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Leopard), who has already been Olympic champion and won multiple world championships in this discipline. 

In second place, Martin Elmiger ceded 59 seconds to Cancellara. “Fabian is almost untouchable in this discipline. Personally, I had good sensations. The loop is difficult and in Switzerland, we always have to pay attention to on-coming cars. Sunday will be different, with the road race since it will be a very tactical match between not only IAM Cycling and BMC but also riders like Cancellara, Rast and Albasini.”

Bronze medallist Reto Hollenstein also recognized the monumental task of challenging Cancellara in a time trial. “I was not too bad despite the efforts I made in the recent Tour of Switzerland. But faced with a specialist like Fabian, we have practically no chance. My legs felt worse today than they did this past Saturday or Sunday. Now we need to recover so that we can be tip-top for Sunday.” 

Marcel Wyss was not certain whether he would race today at all, since he was still suffering the ill-effects of his numerous falls at the Tour of Switzerland.  Nevertheless, he still managed to take 4th place. “The ribs still hurt. The pain comes when I want to sprint, but I can ride almost normally when I’m in a flow. I rode this time trial as a sort of training.”