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Tour Team News: BMC Avoids the Crashes

The BMC Racing Team continued to keep its two riders, Cadel Evans and Tejay van Garderen in the top 10 and out of trouble on stage 6.

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The result helped defending champion Cadel Evans move up one spot, from seventh to sixth, in the overall standings whilst teammate Tejay van Garderen is fourth overall and still leading the best young rider classification.

They both avoided several crashes that involved many of the race favorites. The most serious of the pile-ups happened with 25 kilometers left in the 207.5 km race and cost a number of riders at least two minutes, including last year’s third-place finisher Frank Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan), Giro d’Italia winner Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky Procycling), who had been fifth in the overall standings.

Van Garderen said the BMC Racing Team did not want to take advantage of the misfortune of others. “We heard there was a big split, but we didn’t drive it at the front or anything,” he said. “We just tried to keep good position and stay safe. We’re lucky to have such strong guys on the team. It’s a shame and I hope everyone’s OK, but crashes are part of the game. That’s why we’re expending so much energy to stay at the front and stay safe.”

Evans is 17 seconds off the race lead of Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) heading into Saturday’s 190.5 km stage that features the first significant climbing of the three-week race and a mountain-top finish. The former world road champion said the BMC Racing Team has done a “fantastic” job of keeping him safe.

“We’d normally say the real test starts tomorrow, but maybe it started today,” Evans said. “I’m feeling pretty fresh at this point. It hasn’t been the hardest first week we’ve had, that’s for sure. Not since the Tours I’ve ridden at least – eight of them now. But now the guys legs are starting to get softened and tomorrow will be the first real test of who has really come here for the overall. From what I have seen in the group so far, of the guys still high on GC, Van Den Broeck, Nibali, Menchov look to be moving well, maybe better than many expected. Of course Sky and ‘Wiggo’ will be out with bells on too. For now…. Some rest… ”

 

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