The BMC Racing Team helped push the pace in the final 30 kilometers Saturday at the Vuelta a España when strong crosswinds sliced the peloton into pieces.
‘Riders Were in Trouble’
On the longest stage of this year’s Vuelta, an open landscape, a straight road and a strong wind provided the ingredients to throw chaos into the 207-kilometer race. “We were prepared for it, so all day we stayed quiet,” BMC Racing Team Sport Director Valerio Piva said. “Then I asked the guys to pull full gas. Cadel was fantastic and strong, as was Manuel Quinziato and Steve Morabito. And Philippe Gilbert did a good job in bringing Samuel Sánchez up since he was not in a good position in the beginning.” Evans and Quinziato were initially the instigators in the front group. They were eventually joined by the group containing Sánchez and that 54-rider bunch arrived at the finish 53 seconds ahead of the next substantial group. Quinziato said it was good to see the team’s pre-race plan play out. “Some of the GC (general classification) riders were in trouble and we tried to make them more in trouble,” he said. “In the end, it was just four of us who were pulling, so the second group came back. But we tried.”
Mountain-Top Finish Sunday
Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ.fr) won his second stage of the three-week race by edging out Michael Matthews (ORICA-GreenEDGE) while Peter Sagan (Cannondale Pro Cycling) was third. Danilo Wyss, who was one of six BMC Racing Team riders in the front group, finished 12th. “I fought really hard for everybody,” Wyss said. “The objective was to keep Samuel in the first group and we pulled really hard. I went for the sprint at the end, but I didn’t have much energy left. I gave everything before to pull for Samuel.” Sánchez held onto his 12th place overall and remained the BMC Racing Team’s best-placed rider, 1:11 back of race leader Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team), on the eve of the race’s second mountain-top finish. Piva said changing weather conditions could play a significant factor, in addition to the challenging terrain of the 185-km stage. “Tomorrow will be hard,” he said. “I am hearing the final will be with rain and 16 degrees (Celsius) temperatures, compared to the 40 degrees of the past few days.”
