04 October, 2017, Santa Rosa, California (USA)
After claiming fourth place at Giro dell’Emilia, Nicolas Roche will lead BMC Racing Team at Il Lombardia this Saturday October 7, the second-to-last UCI WorldTour race of the year.
BMC Racing Team Sports Director Maximilian Sciandri said the team has multiple cards to play at the last Monument race of the season.
“We saw at Giro dell’Emilia that Nicolas Roche is in great shape and can do well in these hilly Italian races. So, I think Nicolas can do well again this Saturday. Alessandro De Marchi is also looking strong and motivated after the UCI World Championships, and that’s exactly how you need to go into a tough race like Il Lombardia if you want any chance of a good result, you need the legs and you need the motivation,” Sciandri explained.
“It’s a selective course. It’s more concentrated in the final section and personally, I think it’s probably not as hard as last year’s course. The finish is in Como but from the Madonna del Ghisallo onwards, it’s a rollercoaster all the way to Como. The weather seems like it will be good and we’ll play our cards in the best way possible.”
Roche is feeling good after testing his legs at Giro dell’Emilia.
“Coming out of Giro dell’Emilia with fourth place was a good indication of where my form is at the moment. The two races are quite different and maybe the short, steeper climbs of Giro dell’Emilia are more suited to me but I’m confident I can do another good result on Saturday,” Roche said.
“Il Lombardia is definitely one of the toughest, if not the toughest, one-day races of the year so it would be nice to wrap my season up well. We have a strong team and as long as the legs are good on the day, I think it will be a good race.”
Il Lombardia (7 October 2017)
Elmiger
Rider Roster: Damiano Caruso (ITA), Alessandro De Marchi (ITA), Martin Elmiger (SUI), Ben Hermans (BEL), Amaël Moinard (FRA), Nicolas Roche (IRL), Michael Schär (SUI), Manuel Senni (ITA).
Sports Directors: Maximilian Sciandri (ITA), Fabio Baldato (ITA).
