Tour Team News: BMC Looking Ahead To The Time Trial

BMC’s two riders in the top 10 at the Tour de France, Cadel Evans and Tejay van Garderen, stayed safe in the peloton for a rain-slickened finish Friday on the eve of the final time trial.

Simple Strategy For Time Trial - Van Garderen and Evans remain fifth and sixth overall, respectively, as the overall standings did not change after the 222.5-kilometer race ended with world road champion Mark Cavendish sprinting to his second stage win.

Heading into Saturday’s 53.5 km individual time trial, van Garderen is 8:30 off the overall lead of Bradley Wiggins (Sky Procycling) and 2:37 behind fourth-placed Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol Team). The wearer of the best young rider’s jersey said his strategy for the time trial is simple.

“I’ll empty the tank and see where I end up,” van Garderen said. “I had a good one last time. Maybe I can go even better.” Van Garderen has finished fourth in both of the race’s time trials.

Evans: ‘I’ll Give Everything’
After placing 35th in Friday’s stage, Evans reflected on a Tour that saw him move into second overall on Stage 7 but fall to fourth after Stage 11 and into seventh after Stage 16. He gained back one spot Thursday.

“I had a couple of days that were really important days that pretty much put me out of contention for the podium,” Evans said.

“I’ll see if I can just salvage something in my Tour tomorrow. We’ll find out when I get to the first time check. I’ll give everything, but everything of 80 percent or everything of 70 percent isn’t always enough for a Tour time trial.”

Dog Causes Crash
Philippe Gilbert received quite a scare with 106 kilometers to go when a dog ran in front of the peloton, causing the Belgian national time trial champion to crash, along with a number of other riders. Gilbert said the dog, which was not on a leash, may have panicked when he saw the peloton speed by.

“He ran into the middle of the bunch and there was nothing we could do to avoid it,” Gilbert said. “I was pretty upset at the people because I think it’s very dangerous to leave such a big dog running into the bunch. It could have been really bad. In the end, I have bruises on my left shoulder and elbow but nothing broken, which is most important ahead of the Olympics. I was lucky.”