I caught up with the BMC team at the start of the 2008 Tour of Missouri stage 5, in St James where the riders were getting ready for another aggressive stage in high humidity. Mike Sayers announced his retirement earlier this year, and is racing his last big race at the Tour of Missouri. Going into the day, Jeff Louder was sitting in tenth place in the overall classification and had been very aggressive in the previous day’s break. Darren Lill had a great time trial result finishing in seventh place but missed the move on stage 4, and is now back to hunting for stage wins and assisting his teammate in moving up the GC. Finally, Jonathan Garcia is hitting his form after suffering two hard crashes this year.

This is your last big race, this is it. How does it feel?
Mike: Yes, this is it. I get mixed feelings, the team, I think they finalized the roster this week, and they are doing a press release, I feel a little bit left out honestly but it’s part of it. Especially after a day like yesterday where I suffered a little bit and those are the days I’m not really going to miss. I think as we get closer to Sunday, it’s going to be a little more difficult. The only good thing is that Ive known it’s coming and I can prepare myself for it, just going to give the last couple of days everything I got. The team is riding really well which is awesome, that’s one thing I’m really proud of, how far the team has come, how far the team is going. It’s just kind of the natural evolution of things.

The BMC team seems to have brought it up a level in the last few months, what brought this on?
Mike: I just think it was the progression, I just think it took us some time to get guys organized and get some experience in the bank, again I think we’ve reached that point, obviously the leadership from Gavin[Chilcott] and John [Lelangue] has made a big difference, they were always pushing guys to be aggressive and I think it does help you get a little more cohesive. I think it’s just a combination of things, I just think it’s generally the natural maturity of how things are going. And you bring in some more experienced riders like Tony [Cruz] and Jeff [Louder], they make a big difference, it’s not just me telling guys what to do, those guys are talented enough to kind of lead by example, it’s been really nice and a really nice team to finish up with, that’s one of the great things, I get to leave on one of the best teams and just kind of be proud of that whole thing.

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Two in a row for the Garmin-Chipotle team. This time is was Blake Caldwell who emerged from a break to win the stage and take over the yellow jersey from his teammate’s shoulders. After 85 miles (137 km) and 10,585 feet (3.226 m) of climbing, Caldwell outsprinted his two-man breakaway companion Darren Lill (BMC) to win stage 2 at the Tour of Utah. Bringing the chase group, 18 seconds behind for third place was BMC’s Jeff Louder.

Caldwell is now the new leader in the overall classification, with Lill in second place at 4 seconds back, and Jason Donald (Garmin-Chipotle) drops down from first to third.

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In idyllic conditions for a time trial, Rory Sutherland (Health Net-Maxxis) won stage 3, the Mt Hood Cycling Classic Gorge Delights time trial in a decisive manner, stopping the clock with the fastest time of 37:29, with an average speed of 29.61 mph (47.64 kmph).

Slotting into second place, Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell) was 25 seconds slower, and GC leader into the stage, Darren Lill (BMC) finished in third place, at 32 seconds back.

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The leader’s jersey changed hands once again after the first climbing stage, the Cooper Spur Circuit Race at the Mt Hood Cycling Classic. Darren Lill (BMC) timed his attack perfectly to outsprint Rory Sutherland (Health Net-Maxxis) and Chris Meier (Symmetrics) on the final climb to the finish line after 85 miles in the saddle, and he also had to dodge an official’s car at the same time. (Unfortunately so did I, so I missed the final photo at the finish).

“I saved everything for the final kilometer, and I knew that it was probably the steepest pitch of the whole climb, none of the climbs are really all that steep, the guys are obviously at their most tired, it just flattens out with 200 meters to go and I thought if I could just get over the crest with 200, 250 meters to go with a bit of a gap, I should be able to hold on for the win, I just put my head and prayed like mad, I thought my legs were going to fall off at the end but managed to hold on.” said a tried Lill after the stage.

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