The BMC Racing Team celebrated its second world team time trial in its home country Sunday. ©Tim De Waele/TDWsport BMC Team




RICHMOND 2015 -  Domenica 20 settembre 2015 - Men's Team Time Trial - Cronometro a Squadre maschile



Altimetria prova cronometro a squadre - in allegato planimetria HD

Il Team BMC sbanca nella prova a cronometro dedicata alle squadre ai mondiali di RIchmond ©Tim De Waele/TDWsport BMC Team 
 

BMC Racing Team Repeats As World Champions

The BMC Racing Team celebrated its second world team time trial in its home country Sunday. ©Tim De Waele/TDWsport BMC Team

20. September 2015, Richmond, Virginia (USA) - The BMC Racing Team led through every time check Sunday on the way to capturing its second straight UCI world team time trial championship.

Powering its BMC timemachine TM01s through the streets of Richmond, Virginia, the BMC Racing Team averaged 54.969 kilometers an hour to best Etixx-Quick Step by 11.35 seconds. Movistar Team finished third, 30.11 seconds off the winning time of 42:07.97.

Members of the winning team were Rohan Dennis, Silvan Dillier, Stefan Küng, Daniel Oss, Taylor Phinney, Manuel Quinziato.

Phinney, who only recently returned to racing after being sidelined by a major injury for 62 weeks, called it "a nearly perfect" performance.

"Everybody was really impressive today, but Rohan Dennis absolutely carried us," Phinney said. "He is kind of on another level. But it was great that all six of us stayed together until close to the end. I tried to be conservative in the beginning and then give it some gas toward the finish. But that is always easier said than done."

Dennis, Dillier, Oss and Quinziato won their second gold medals after being part of last year's team. Peter Velits, who was part of the winning team time trial squad in 2012, 2013 and 2014, was the team's first alternate.

"Peter would easily fit into anybody else's team and he was gracious enough to come here knowing he would be the reserve," Phinney said. "He was really helpful for us as a road captain in training."

Dennis, winner of the opening time trial at this year's Tour de France and a past holder of the world hour record, said the victory was even better than last year.

"Last year when we won, it was a bit of a surprise to a lot of people," Dennis said. "To win again really puts our mark on the team time trial on a world level. It is pretty big for BMC." 

In addition to winning on Sunday, the BMC Racing Team also captured team time trials at the Vuelta a España, the Tour de France and the Critérium du Dauphiné this year.

BMC Racing Team Trainer Marco Pinotti said he was initially worried the squad started too fast. At the first time check at 10 km, the BMC Racing Team led Etixx-Quick Step by nearly four seconds, ORICA-GreenEDGE by nearly five and Movistar Team by almost nine.

"It was fast and I did not expect to be that much in front of the other teams," Pinotti said. "The hardest part was the last part, with a headwind and a slight uphill. The guys kept riding hard and lost a bit. But the other teams were losing even more time. I was sure it was going to be close. When it is close, it is not only about the skill and form, it is about mental strength. The guys kept their focus and this a big achievement."

 

UCI World TTT Championship: Etixx - Quick-Step Earns Silver in Richmond Photo © Etixx - Quick-Step/Tim De Waele 20-Sep-2015: Etixx - Quick-Step placed 2nd in the 38.8km UCI World Team Time Trial Championship on Sunday in Richmond (USA), 11.35" down on winner BMC Racing Team (42:07.97), after the two teams had a small time difference between each other after the third intermediate point. BMC Racing Team passed through all three checkpoints fastest, but by the third time check their advantage was down to about five seconds. BMC Racing Team averaged 55.275km/h, while Etixx - Quick-Step averaged 55.014 kilometers per hour. Movistar, who earned Bronze in the event, crossed the finish 30.11" down, showing the TTT was closest between the gold and silver medal teams. "I'm very happy with the performance of the team and my own performance," Tony Martin, three-time UCI World ITT Champion, said. "We started well, we found a good rhythm, which was in my opinion not too fast and not too slow. We were balanced as a team, with no super strong or weak riders. It was smooth, as it should be in a team time trial. I was a bit surprised about the early split time compared to BMC Racing Team. So, for sure, the morale was a bit affected early on. But then as we went along the parcours, we were gaining seconds back. I think that gave us a small push. We were really fighting, and we had a really strong performance all the way through the finish line. So, I am satisfied about the overall performance. This was also one of my big objectives of the season, and my performance gives me confidence ahead of the UCI World TT Championship on Wednesday. It's hard to analyze myself, but as my teammates said, they were suffering a little bit when I was in front (laughs). So, I'm sorry for that. But it means I am in a good way, it gives me a good feeling for my next objective. I will go for it. I am disappointed for the team in that we didn't win, but we did our best, and my own performance boosted my morale before Wednesday. We will see what can happen in a few days. " "I'm really happy about the performance of the team here in Richmond," Michal Kwiatkowski, defending UCI World Road Champion, said. "We did the best we could. The team was really motivated. I did my best, as did everyone. Yves, Rigo, Tom, Tony, Niki, we all worked really well together on this parcours. We tried to go for the victory, but BMC Racing Team was the strongest today. Congratulations to them. As for me, I had great sensations today. I did even better than I expected. I think we all really performed at our highest level possible. The fastest team won today. That's sport." "It was surprising, the time difference on the last section of the parcours," Sport Director Tom Steels said. "We were gaining time at the end of the race. At the middle of the race we were already improving. If you see the values of the riders, their data, I don't think we could have gone any faster than what we did today. It was a really close TTT, and I can't think of any moment when we really lost the race. BMC Racing Team was just better today, so congratulations to them. I think we earned silver as a cohesive unit, and we can be satisfied with a strong performance." Photo © Etixx - Quick-Step/Tim De Waele