Santa Rosa, CA - Having had what could be termed a break-out year in 2008, Scott Nydam and the rest of the BMC Racing Team are chomping at the bit to kick off the 2009 season with a bang.

In last year’s Tour of California, Nydam had his greatest success and impressed the entire peloton when he and his team mates defended the King of the Mountains jersey. “That whole race was a special experience that will stay with me for the rest of my life,” Nydam declared. “My father had just been diagnosed as being gravely ill, I had just crashed out of the Tour of Qatar and was feeling a little defeated.” Instead of hanging on to the tail of the pack or waiting to get dropped by the peloton, Nydam decided to go on the attack. “The whole experience was very special particularly in the context of what was happening in my family, and is a memory I will savour forever,” Nydam explained.

With the 2009 edition of the Tour of California just weeks away, Nydam has been using the past months to recharge his battery. With BMC ramping up its goals and ambitions for the coming season, everyone is excited to see what will be possible in the New Year. Nydam took the time over the holiday to give some of his impressions.

What are your early season goals?
Like last year, I think that it is important that we hit the ground running. This year we have a bigger and better roster of riders and we should expect to build on everything that happened last year so that means going to many of the same races as we did in 2008, but this time with a lot more confidence and higher expectations.

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Well, it all came down the final stage at the mighty Tour de Nez to decide the overall winner in the general classification. After a brutal day on Friday, the men faced the 44-mile (70 km) Northstar-at-Tahoe Village Circuit Race. The race course is a hilly, difficult 2-mile loop that includes a passage over the pavers in the Northstar Village, and the adjacent roads at the village.

Going into the stage, Andy Bajadali (Kelly Benefit/Medifast) had a scant lead of 4 seconds over Scott Nydam (BMC) and 5 seconds over Friday’s stage winner Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics). And right behing them in the classification were the Bissell duo of Burke Swindlehurst and Aaron Olson at 18 and 24 seconds respectively from the lead.

Game faces on for red jersey Andy Bajadali (Kelly Benefit/Medifast), mountain jersey Dan Bowman (Kelly Benefit/Medifast) and sprint jersey Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics)

In the end, Bissell loaded the deck and put 3 riders in a 9-man break, kept the pressure on by utting the engines of Tom Zirbel and Graham Howard at the front and grew a 27 seconds gap to Andy Bajadali by the end of the race, giving the overall win to Aaron Olson with a final lead of 13 seconds over second place Bajadali. Scott Nydam (BMC) rounded off the podium.

Health Net-Maxxis’ Roman Kilun outsprinted his breakmates to take his second win in the race. Another repeat is Jon Baker (Vitamin Cottage) who finished second for the second time behind Kilun. In third place was Ben Raby (SRAM).

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The stage was set for an explosion with hot temperatures and tight GC for the fourth stage, the tough Northstar at Tahoe Road Race, of the Tour de Nez. On the second lap of the 10 laps around a 6.5-mile course, the 65-man field exploded on the 15% grade climb. For the rest of the race, riders littered the course in small groups or alone just trying to make it to the finish within the 15% time cut. The leader’s red jersey wearer Ian McKissick (BMC) was one of the victims as he cracked in the second lap.

A strong group of contenders formed at the front, and small breaks launched, and re-launched. Eight-time Canadian Champion Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics), riding without any teammates, won the stage on his patented solo attack from one of the breaks. Andy Bajadali (Kelly Benefit/Medifast) and Scott Nydam (BMC) chased from the front group to take second and third respectively. With a scant lead of 4 seconds, Bajadali is the new leader with Nydam in second place and Wohlberg in third, at 5 seconds back.

Dan Bowman (Kelly Benefit/Medifast) leds breakmate Tom Zirbel (Bissell) up the climb

Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics) and Aaron Olson (Bissell) work to bride up to duo; Scott Nydam (BMC) leads select front group chasing the breaks

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BMC Racing Team’s Scott Nydam on only his second year as a professional cyclist made his presence known at the Amgen Tour of California by going on a solo breakaway on the second to secure the King of the Mountain (KOM) jersey, which he defended on the subsequent stages.

On his second year with the BMC team, thirty-one year old Nydam came to cycling following a diffferent path than most racers. He had a successful year in 2007, including a 6th place finish at the Tour de Georgia, and the KOM jersey, for the second year in a row, at Cascase Cycling Classic, and his 2008 season started with a bang at the Tour of California and is just beginning.

Scott had just returned from a trip to visit his father who has been fighting Leukemia when he patiently answered all my questions. The great news is that the cancer is in remission.

Scott Nydam at the start line, Photo c. Lyne Lamoureux

Lyne: You appeared in the radar only a few years or so ago, so how did you become a pro?
Scott: Yeah, I don’t think I took the normal step by step roadmap to cycling. I started in my mid 20s just trying to stay in good shape. The story is I did a quadrathlon in New Mexico, a winter quadrathlon, which entailed road cycling, running, skiing and snowshoeing. It was to the top of this mountain and then you do it backwards as well, you rode bike for 15 miles to a dirt road, you run 5 miles to the snow line, you get on your skis, you ski up 2.5 miles up steep stuff and then you jump in your snowshoes which you carried on your back skiing, and you snowshoe to the summit and then you turn around and you go down, and you do it all in reverse. Someone let me borrow their road bike for it, it was the first time I rode on a road bike and I enjoyed it, I did okay. (note: Scott finished second in his category behind Tom Zirbel).

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