BMC Racing Team's Evans Wins Criterium International

BMC Racing Team's Cadel Evans answered every challenge on the climb to the finish Sunday on the way to winning his first Criterium International.

Nice Confidence Boost

The defending Tour de France champion placed fourth in a four-up sprint that was won by Pierrick Fedrigo (FDJ-BigMat) to take the overall victory by eight seconds over Fedrigo. Evans took the lead of the two-day, three stage race by winning Saturday afternoon's Stage 2 time trial by 0.3 seconds over Michael Rogers (Sky Pro Cycling). "Yesterday was a good indication and a nice confidence boost," Evans said. "Sometimes things go well and it all comes together. Up until this point, I had trouble bringing things together. But I knew to keep working at it and things would come together. It's a good indication, but we have big races still to come." Defending Evans' lead on the final stage was not an easy job, said BMC Racing Team Assistant Director Max Sciandri. "The team was absolutely incredible," Sciandri said. "Tim Roe and Yannick Eijssen pulled for something like 150 of the 179 kilometers."

Defending Yellow

In the final 14 kilometers, Evans was first assisted by teammate Brent Bookwalter, then Marco Pinotti and finally Amaël Moinard. With 18 riders within 15 seconds of the lead, the BMC Racing Team riders kept the pace high to ward off attacks on the ascent of the Col de l’Ospedale."As a team we worked really well today," Evans said. "Today, the young guys started out and I think for them it was an honor for them to ride in a part of France for the yellow jersey." When the road pitched steeply upward inside the final three kilometers, Evans put in a dig of his own to reduce a group of less than 10 to the final four, which did not include Rogers – who was tied with him on time. "As a race with three short stages, it's sometimes a little bit difficult to manage with the time bonuses (at the finish) and a mountain top finish," Evans said. Until Sunday, Evans' previous best finish in two appearances at Criterium International was sixth in 2010.

Follow this link to download an audio interview of Cadel Evans:

http://www.bmcracingteam.com/news/audio-line/

GreenEdge's Simon Gerrans wins Milan San-Remo 2012

Simon Gerrans, the Australian national champion, has won the Milan San-Remo one-day classic after the GreenEdge rider outsprinted Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara and Vincenzo Nibali of Italy at the finishing line at the end of the 298-kilometre race in Liguria, northern Italy.


Gerrans won his first 'monument' of cycling in six hours 59 minutes 24 seconds as he became the second succcessive Australian rider to win the race known as la classica di Primavera following Matt Goss's victory in 2011.
"It's incredible, us Aussies are taking over this race," Gerrans said afterwards. "Matt Goss won last year and now he's my team-mate, this is incredible for us."
The 31 year-old, who already has stage wins in all three grand tours - the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España - on his palmarès joined the newly-found GreenEdge team from Team Sky in the close season and repaid his new employers with the biggest win of their short time on the WorldTour, the top tier of professional cycling, on Saturday.
Mark Cavendish, who went into Milan San-Remo as one of the pre-race favourites, lost any chance of winning after the Manxman dropped down the field as Nibali's Liquigas-Cannondale team stepped up the pace on the La Manie ascent, 97 kilometres from the finishing line.
The Team Sky world champion, who won the race in 2009, managed to get back to the second group, clawing back around 40 seconds with the help of his team-mates but was unable to get into the main peloton which was kept at a fast pace by the BMC Racing and Omega Pharma-Quick Step teams.


Repeated attacks from Vacansoleil-DCM's Johnny Hoogerland in the closing stages failed shake off the the speeding peloton which swallowed up the Dutchman before some of the biggest names made their moves.
Óscar Freire, a three-time winner, Tom Boonen, Cancellara and Goss all featured while Philippe Gilbert crashed as the Belgian saw any hopes of another 'monument' being added to his palmarès all but disappear.
As the peloton reached the Poggio, the final climb of the day, Hoogerland made one more short-lived attack before the move of the day was launched as Gerrans and Nibali escaped the peloton. Cancellara wasted little time in joining the pair.
The former Swiss world time-trial champion led the trio over the summit of the Poggio and into the fast descent towards San Remo as they built up a lead of 12secs.
With the finishing line in sight the chasing pack, headed up by Slovakia's Peter Sagan and numerous Katusha riders, failed to catch the trio.
After losing out in a spint finish to Alejandro Valverde in this month's Paris-Nice, Gerrans sat patiently on Cancellara's wheel before the Aussie gave one final push towards the line and the biggest win of his career.
"This is an amazing feeling to win," said Gerrans. "The team rode perfectly, and we played our cards just the right way."
"I did what I could but Cancellara was going like a motorbike. I knew if Cancellara was there, we would make it to the finish. But Nibali was also there, so I had to be careful of him too.
"Then it was all a question of making my last acceleration at exactly the right moment."

First posted and thanks to  www.milansanremo.co.uk/  

RADIOSHACK NISSAN TREK LINE-UP FOR TOUR OF CATALUNYA

Volta Ciclista a Catalunya (Spain) – UCI WorldTour (March 19-25) Riders: Matthew Busche, Laurent Didier, Jakob Fuglsang, Ben Hermans, Tiago Machado, Thomas Rohregger, Andy Schleck & Oliver Zaugg Directors: José Azevedo & Lars Michaelsen

BMC Racing Team Reveals Milan-San Remo Roster

The BMC Racing Team will bring four riders to Milan-San Remo who have finished in the top 10 of the spring classic. But past podium finisher and world road champion Thor Hushovd will not start Saturday's race due to illness.

Hushovd 'Really Disappointed'
Third at this race in 2009 and 2005, Hushovd is sidelined with a fever. It follows a stomach sickness that affected him in the opening days of Paris-Nice. "Monday night I woke up with fever and was cold and sweating," he said. "I have felt bad for two days now so there's no chance to race on Saturday. I am really disappointed because it was obviously one of my first goals of the year." BMC Racing Team Directeur Sportif John Lelangue said illnesses and injuries which have affected other riders – Philippe Gilbert had a fever this week and Greg Van Avermaet is recovering from sore heels – are part of cycling. "The decision to take them both out of Tirreno-Adriatico was a good one," Lelangue said. "They are still not 100 percent, but we have two days to go. We are still pretty confident that we have a good team with good experience."

Feeling No Pressure
Twice a podium finisher, including third place last year and in 2008, Gilbert said he is feeling better each day. "I have been riding easy in training and I hope to have a race that's easier at first, maybe with a headwind or something," he said. "I'll try to be smart and ride in a good position. Milan-San Remo can be a very strange race where anything can happen. If it's not for me in the final, maybe it will be Alessandro Ballan or Greg Van Avermaet or someone else on our team. I think we have a good team and we aren't feeling pressure because we know we can be competitive." Former world road champion Ballan, fourth here last year and fourth at Strade Bianche, believes his form is good. "I can do something good there," Ballan said. "I worked hard in Tirreno-Adriatico, even if I didn't make a result there and I am in optimal condition right now. I think we can be one of the teams that takes charge of the race."

BMC Racing Team Milan-San Remo Roster (March 17):
Alessandro Ballan (ITA), Marcus Burghardt (GER), Philippe Gilbert (BEL), George Hincapie (USA), Taylor Phinney (USA), Manuel Quinziato (ITA), Michael Schär (SUI), Greg Van Avermaet (BEL).

AG2R LA MONDIALE Team for Milano-San Remo

Milano-San Remo will take place on Saturday 17th March.


The team roster of the AG2R LA MONDIALE Team for this competition:
Riders

• Manuel BELLETTI (Italy)
• Maxime BOUET (France)
• Kristof GODDAERT (Belgium)
• Sébastien HINAULT (France)
• Lloyd MONDORY (France)
• Matteo MONTAGUTI (Italy)
• Rinaldo NOCENTINI (Italy)
• Christophe RIBLON (France)

Sport director

• Arturas KASPUTIS

Cancellara wins Tirreno TT - Horner takes 2nd in GC

Fabian Cancellara posted up the best time in the final time trial at Tirreno-Adriatico to earn the second win of the season for RADIOSHACK NISSAN TREK. Teammate Chris Horner defended the race lead, but slipped to second on the classification behind winner Vincenzo Nibali. Throw in Daniele Bennati’s second place finish today and you have the makings of a very successful week in Italy.

“It was a tough one,” said Fabian Cancellara, “especially when I had in mind my best time from last year. But the conditions today were totally different.  We had a tailwind to go out but a full headwind to come back.  I see that I did three seconds slower than last year’s ride but I still think I did a great ride. I also wanted to provide good split times for Chris to compare. I didn’t feel under pressure to win this. I know where my form is now after 30 hours on the bike in this race and I have a lot of confidence.”

Starting in the first one-third of riders, Cancellara challenged his last year’s winning time by posting the time to beat at 10:36.   Teammate Daniele Bennati challenged with the second best time at 10:48, a time that held up to the finish, making for a one-two punch on the final stage in San Benedetto Del Tronto. Third place on the stage went to Cameron Meyer of GreenEdge.

Roman Kreuziger (Astana) and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) were five- and six-seconds behind Chris Horner on the GC, and started on the 9.3km, pan flat course just in front of him.  Nibali looked strong, finishing with a time of 10:56 but Kreuziger faded in the headwind return. While Horner looked steady on the bike, his time was not quite good enough to hold off a strong Nibali, and the Italian took the overall victory by 14 seconds ahead of Chris. Horner became the first American rider to podium in Tirreno Adriatico.

“I have no mixed feelings about this,” said a happy Chris Horner after the stage.

Races in Belgium Up Next For BMC Racing Team

The BMC Racing Team enters a pair of one-day races in Belgium this week looking to make the most out of opportunities for sprinter Adam Blythe.

Two Hard Races
BMC Racing Team Assistant Sport Director Max Sciandri said Nokere Koerse on Wednesday and Friday's Handzame Classic are two different types of races. "But we are looking for the same thing in both of them – a good race where we are present and do well in the end," Sciandri said. "We've got Adam Blythe if it comes down to a sprint and he's up to it." Blythe – runner-up on Stage 1 at the Tour of Qatar – finished 13th at Handzame last year in a 40-rider bunch sprint. "It's just like a big kermesse, only with teams riding it," he said. "It's a good race and it's a hard race. There's not going to be any many teams controlling it. It is more like every man for himself. I hope it will be like last year when It was raining all day. It was cold, it was horrible and I didn't mind it."

BMC Racing Team Nokere Koerse Roster (March 14):
Adam Blythe (GBR), Yannick Eijssen (BEL), Mathias Frank (SUI) Martin Kohler (SUI), Tim Roe (AUS), Mauro Santambrogio (ITA), Danilo Wyss (SUI).

BMC Racing Team Handzame Classic Roster (March 16):
Adam Blythe (GBR), Yannick Eijssen (BEL), Mathias Frank (SUI), Martin Kohler (SUI), Tim Roe (AUS), Mauro Santambrogio (ITA), Danilo Wyss (SUI).

Sport Director:
Max Sciandri (GBR/ITA)

Staff:
Bus Drivers: Filip Sercu (BEL), Freddy Viaene (BEL). Doctor: Scott Major (USA). Mechanics (Peter De Bleecker (BEL), Glen Vandevyvere (BEL). Soigneurs: Bernd Coutteau (BEL), Trudi Rebsamen (USA), Maarten Vanduffel (BEL).