Garmin-Sharp’s Rohan did a great job in his first Tour and will not take the start today. Our goal for Rohan, as we said all along, was to bring him to the Tour to give him experience in order to continue to develop his talent. We wanted to get him through the first rest day and we’re only a day short of that. He did a fantastic job here and we’re proud of how he rode for the team. He is an exceptionally talented young rider. Now he’ll go home, rest, recover, and focus on the rest of his season with the benefit of having ridden his first Tour de France.
“Having the opportunity to ride my first Tour at my age was incredible and a huge honor. I would have liked to make it a little longer in the race but now its time to go home and rest and recover. I’m very thankful for the support of my team and I know the guys will continue to do a great race,” said Rohan Dennis.
Comments from Argos-Shimano riders today:
Simon Geschke
“Today was a really hard day. I went all out trying to get in the break, but unfortunately it was not enough. I felt strong today, so I decided to go full gas and chase the break. We came pretty close, but in the end I was not able to close the gap. It was a long day. After I was caught by the first group I got dropped and ended up in a group together with John Degenkolb, where we just rode to survive. I have a good feeling about the first week. Tomorrow is a rest day, but I can’t wait until the other stages.”
Rudi Kemna
“Our riders had a good day. They all survived without any problems and finished in time. Marcel was in a group of 50 riders and seemed good on the hills. I see a clear improvement in his climbing skills. Simon and Tom Dumoulin both had a good day as well, with Simon trying to get in the break and Tom staying with the yellow jersey group for a very long time.”
Cadel Evans of the BMC Racing Team bounced back from a challenging opening day in the Pyrenees Saturday with a sixth-place finish in the mountains on Sunday.
‘Keep Your Hopes Alive’
Evans and a select group that included his teammate, Steve Morabito, finished 20 seconds after Daniel Martin (Garmin-Sharp) out-dueled breakaway companion Jakob Fuglsang (Astana Pro Team) for the stage win. Evans said he was feeling “a bit better” in the 168.5-km race that was aggressive from the start and saw overall leader Christopher Froome isolated from the rest of his Sky Procycling teammates. “Certainly, you always have to keep your hopes alive,” Evans said. “Quitting is not an option right now. What a saw today was a surprise and not what I expected of Sky. Last year, they had really good recovery amongst all their riders every day throughout the whole tour. Today, that wasn’t the case at all. They had one rider in the front and that was a strange and really bizarre situation for the yellow jersey, especially so early in the race.” Evans remains 4:36 behind Froome, but moved up seven spots to 16th place.
First Rest Day Monday
Morabito said he was also feeling better on the day before the Tour’s first rest day. First, he tried to make the race more aggressive. Later, he helped drive the pursuit of Martin and Fuglsang. “I went away twice and was feeling good, but behind Saxo Bank and Movistar were checking the bunch,” he said. “Cadel also had to change bikes so I was asked to wait for him. So on the second climb I brought him him back to the first group.” BMC Racing Team President/General Manager Jim Ochowicz said Evans’s recovery from Saturday, when he conceded more than four minutes, has the team moving forward more than looking back. “We had higher expectations than what we put on paper so far, but we go on from here,” Ochowicz sad. “There’s two more weeks to go and we still have a lot of mountains and time trials and events we’d like to do ahead of us. We’re in a good position, We’re moving up, back with Cadel and we will continue to do that every day and opportunity we get.”
Schär Withdraws
The BMC Racing Team will compete the final 12 stages without Michael Schär, who withdrew before the start. The Swiss road champion said he could not endure another day of racing after crashing and injuring his left shoulder early on Friday’s Stage 7. “I’m pretty much riding with one hand,” Schär said. “This causes a lot of troubles in my whole body and I am completely stiff. I survived two stages of this but I cannot sleep any more from the fatigue and I can’t really handle the handlebars in the downhill. It’s dangerous for me and the other riders in the peloton.” BMC Racing Team Chief Medical Officer Dr. Max Testa said to continue on could have put Schär’s long-term recovery from the injury at risk. “We need to do full evaluation with more imaging,” he said. “We don’t want to wait too long. Based on that, we’ll decide if we need a surgical correction or not.”
