21 April, 2018, Santa Rosa, California (USA)
Richie Porte will team up with Tejay van Garderen once again when he returns to the start line at the Tour de Romandie next week, one year after taking overall victory at the UCI WorldTour stage race.
A strong and well-rounded line-up will join Porte, Sports Director Fabio Baldato said.
“We will go into the race with Richie Porte as our leader. Looking at the parcours, I think the time trial on stage 4 will be important and we will see what the situation is when we reach that. We also have Tejay van Garderen lining up and he is in good shape so we will look to protect him and put him in a good position for the General Classification as well. After the TT, there is a really hard stage in the mountains. It’s short but with four tough climbs so we will keep looking at the situation to see what the best plan will be when we get there.”
“We have a strong team for this race. First of all, we have three Swiss riders and we know they are always extra motivated when racing at home. Rohan Dennis will make his final preparations for the Giro d’Italia at this race and I’m sure he will want to target the 4km prologue. It’s maybe a little bit short but we know that on this kind of effort, he is always one of the strongest in the peloton. I think we have a good team with lots of different options so it will be up to us to make a result,” Baldato explained.
Porte will line up at the six-day stage race as defending champion.
“I’m not putting too much pressure on myself heading into the Tour de Romandie this year as I don’t really know where my form is. However, while I have more modest ambitions this year, it is a race I enjoy so I will be going there ready to give 100%. Overall, I think we have a good group of riders lining up so, I am looking forward to getting started,” Porte said.
For van Garderen, the Tour de Romandie is an important race for BMC Racing Team.
“Being on a team so closely linked to Switzerland means that this race is a big goal for us. My form is good and we are very motivated especially having Richie Porte, the defending champion, on the team. It gives us an extra incentive. The course suits us, and we are ready to fight. We owe it to Andy,” van Garderen added.
Tour de Romandie (24 – 29 April)
Rider Roster: Tom Bohli (SUI), Rohan Dennis (AUS), Kilian Frankiny (SUI), Richie Porte (AUS), Joey Rosskopf (USA), Tejay van Garderen (USA), Danilo Wyss (SUI)
Sports Directors: Fabio Baldato (ITA), Allan Peiper (AUS)
