BMC team - going up against the big guys
The BMC Racing team brought its A-game and hoped for big results for the Amgen Tour of California.
The squad announced their presence loudly in the first stage with the Jackson Stewart solo breakaway delivering the first of the King of the Mountains and the Most Aggressive jersey to the team. The story continued in stage 2, where the team protected Jackson’s KOM classification, and also won the Most Aggressive award again through the solo breakaway of Scott Nydam.
In the third stage, Scott Nydam again went on the attack early resulting in successfully defending the KOM jersey and Alex Moos finished ninth in the main chase group behind the two stage leaders.
The team was hit with bad luck during stage 5, as Jackson Stewart unexpectedly abandoned the race due to hypothermia after gobbling up all the KOM points on the day. The KOM jersey reverted to his team mate Nydam and after five stages in the bad, Alexander Moos in very good position in the General Classification at 29 seconds from the leader.
BMC has thus far escaped catching the highly contagious stomach bug which has decimated several other teams in the race. I caught up with some of the BMC riders before the start of the to-be miserable stage 5 to get their thoughts.
Tony Cruz
About the team plan for the rest of the week
Now we have a GC contender with Alex so we have to pay attention to where he’s at all times to make sure he’s always in contention, still try and go for the stage, that would be good for the team, and protect the KOM jersey. It’s big. I think we can do Alex and KOM, we’ll focus on the third if we can.
About attempting another break in the stage
I don’t know, we’ll see, going to let the other teams do some stuff and try and work with them, no more solo stuff.
About his form
Not too bad. Believe me, I was tired (after stage 4), that was a hard stage, to be expected.
Alexandre Moos
About his form
It’s pretty good. Today, we try to protect my position and tomorrow the time trial, and then I think there are still some great stages so anything can happen, but for now I am well positioned.
About the Tour of California on his third time
A little rain, last year it also rained for this stage. There is quite the high level be it for sprints or for climbers, and I think it’s a beautiful Tour of California.
About stage 3
The team has ridden it during the training camp, what’s clear is that the biggest surprise was to see Cancellara in the first group, really impressive, that was the biggest surprise of the day.
Scott Nydam
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| Photo by Ken Conley |
About his form
The legs definitely opened up, more so than they need to be perhaps but they feel okay, good night’s rest. I’m feeling good today
About going into the break again
We’ll see how the race plays out, we don’t know the teams’ motivations are now that everything exploded yesterday but we’ll see what happens, if I can secure the jersey today and there are some good opportunities to do that I’ll definitely take it but at the same time, if there’s a big fight out there today I might need to play it a little bit more conservative because I definitely dipped into the reserves the last couple of days so, but we’re right where we need to be, the team is looking great, everyone is strong, everyone is doing their job and we’re just going to take it one day at a time as we have been.
Jeff Louder
About his form and health on the team
I’m feeling pretty good, not too tired. No stomach flu on the team, except that we had a mechanic that was sick.
About the plan for stage 5
Go on the attack. Don’t screw with the winning situation, just look and see what kind of day it is, what other teams are up to, we’re going to aggressive again. It’s a really good result for Moos, he’s riding really well so we’re definitely looking out for him, also Danilo is sprinting pretty well, kind of just eeking into the top 10 so we’re just going to look out for those guys and the rest of us are going to take our chances.
About the BMC team
It’s great, it’s really well organized, the riders have to live up to the staff, the quality is that high, we’re doing our best. It’s a great experience already, it’s definitely one of the most professional team I’ve ever been on so it’s really positive to be involved with, it’s great so far, and I think the results are showing. We’re going up against the big guys and I think we’re giving a good show and that’s rot of indicative of how well the management has prepared us and how well we’re being treated.
Jackson Stewart
About his form
Good, the legs are all right, but I’m just kind of tired in general, yesterday was a hard day and the first day was hard for me, and the weather has been kind of cold so it’s been a little grueling. But it’s going good.
About going into the break again
I don’t think so, I’m hoping Jeff (Louder) will do it for me instead but, yeah, the plan is for one of us to go in the group and that’s definitely one of my goals here.
Darren Lill
About his form
It’s all right, but I’m a bit disappointed yesterday I just missed out in making the front split, a bit frustrated with that but I guess now I have an opportunity to help Alex to do well, and that will the main focus for us and like Jeff said helping Danilo with the sprint as well.
About the team
It’s a great team, we’ve got a great bunch of riders and staff, we’ve really been enjoying it so far, hoping for a good season.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
[…] Chilcott, the performance of his team at the Amgen Tour of California is very much representative of the team’s approach to the bigger races. The BMC Racing Team […]
March 31st, 2008 at 9:57 pm
[…] 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 […]