Team News – Win for Gilbert in China

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BMC’s Philippe Gilbert wins the overall title at the Tour of Beijing by three seconds from Dan Martin

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Team News – Win for Gilbert in China

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Gilbert crossed the finish line in the peloton at the end of the 117-kilometer circuit race around the Olympic pavilion in Beijing to secure a three-second victory over Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp). Esteban Chaves (ORICA-GreenEDGE) finished third, six seconds back.

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Gilbert’s overall win was the first of his career of a WorldTour stage race and seventh this year, the most by a BMC Racing Team rider during 2014. “This is a big win, not only for me, but also a big one for the team,” Gilbert said. “I knew the team was really good here, which gave me confidence. And when you have confidence, there is less pressure”.

“This was a great experience and I am glad my name will be in the palmares. It is a very special victory for me to win in a place like China.” Gilbert’s other victories this season included his win on Stage 2 that gained him the red leader’s jersey, back-to-back victories at Brabantse Pijl and Amstel Gold Race in April and two stages and the overall title of Ster ZLM Toer in June.

Just as it did on Stages 3 and 4, the BMC Racing Team was hard at work protecting Gilbert and his lead during Tuesday’s stage. Yannick Eijssen, Martin Kohler, Dominik Nerz, Samuel Sánchez, Tejay van Garderen and Rick Zabel each took turns riding the front to reel in a two-man breakaway that enjoyed a 1:20 advantage heading into the final eight-kilometer lap around several of the 2008 Olympic venues. After the pair was caught in the last kilometre, Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) took the win ahead of Greg Henderson (Lotto-Belisol) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky).

“The team rode great again today to keep things safe and keep Philippe out front,” BMC Racing Team Sport Director Max Sciandri said. “Everyone worked hard right to the very end because we were afraid of gaps in the last kilometer. At 60 kilometers an hour, a small gap is more than three seconds. So a big thanks to all the riders and staff who worked really well to wrap things up right at the end of the season.”

Helped by Gilbert’s victory, the BMC Racing Team finished second behind Movistar Team, which won the UCI team classification for the second consecutive year. Tinkoff-Saxo, which had been second heading into the Tour of Beijing, finished third. BMC Racing Team Sport Director Yvon Ledanois said the momentum of the BMC Racing Team winning the world championship team time trial last month carried through to China.

“All the riders were very motivated to go after the team ranking because we knew it was important for (team sponsor) Andy Rihs and (BMC Racing Team President/General Manager) Jim Ochowicz,” Ledanois said. “Before we came here, we spoke with all the riders about getting a good result. And we did it. This was a big result. All of the team and staff can be very proud.”

Second for Dan Martin
Dan Martin sealed his second place overall in the Tour of Beijing on the final stage showing that he has hit a rich run of form towards the end of the season. Martin finished in the main bunch on the final stage from Tiananmen Square to Bird’s Nest Piazza. While time bonuses were on offer at the intermediate sprints and at the finish line, the former were mopped up by breakaway riders and the latter were taken by Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida), Greg Henderson (Lotto Belisol) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky), the three fastest sprinters on the day.

Martin’s run of form makes up for what was an at-times frustrating season. He crashed on the final bend of Liege-Bastogne-Liege in April, losing his chance of taking a second straight victory, and also fell on the opening stage of the Giro d’Italia, sustaining a fractured collarbone. He missed the Tour de France but bounced back to take second on a stage and seventh overall in the Vuelta a Espana. Bad luck struck him again in the world road race championships when he was caught up in a crash and delayed, losing his chance.

However since then things have gone better for him; he put in a superbly-timed attack to win the Il Lombardia Classic earlier this month, then took that stage win plus second overall in the Tour of Beijing. He will next contest the Japan Cup and, as a former winner of the race, will be one of the top favourites for that season-ending event.

In other news from the race, Simon Yates fell at speed on the final stage but was said by his team to be okay minus a lot of skin.

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