15 October, 2017, Santa Rosa, California (USA)
BMC Racing Team will line up at the inaugural Tour of Guangxi, the final UCI WorldTour race of the season, from October 19-24.
Sports Director Marco Pinotti said BMC Racing Team has multiple cards to play for the General Classification and stage wins.
“For the General Classification at the Tour of Guangxi, we have both Ben Hermans and Nicolas Roche. Both riders showed their good condition recently at Il Lombardia and they can take advantage of their current form and end their seasons well. All of our riders will have the possibility to step up and take any opportunities that present themselves. At the end of the season, riders are always motivated for a good result to end their year well and with this being the inaugural edition of the Tour of Guangxi, I think all of our riders will be looking for a good result,” Pinotti explained.
“Most of the stages seem to be favor fast riders and then the uphill finish on stage 4 is good for the punchers and climbers. As usual, it will be the riders who make the race and given we have never raced on the parcours before, any stage could have an unexpected outcome.”
Hermans is motivated to do well in his last race with BMC Racing Team.
“After the two races in Italy, Giro dell’Emilia and Il Lombardia, my motivation is high to get a good result. I had good form there, so I want to finish well in the last race of the season. We don’t know what to expect for the parcours. Looking at the stage profiles, I think the steep uphill finish of stage 4 will suit me. I hope the legs will be good that day and I can get the result we are aiming for,” Hermans said.
“Of course, you always want to go for the win with somebody in the team, but first you need to find the good feeling in the first stages and plan from there. It is always a question of how you handled the long trip to a race like that and how well you have recovered for the last race of the season. We also have Nicolas Roche in good shape for this race, the race could be decided on any of the six stages.”
Tour of Guangxi (19-24 October)
Rider roster: Silvan Dillier (SUI), Floris Gerts (NED), Ben Hermans (BEL), Daniel Oss (ITA), Nicolas Roche (IRL), Joey Rosskopf (USA), Manuel Senni (ITA).
Sports Directors: Marco Pinotti (ITA), Allan Peiper (AUS).
