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Van Garderen to Lead BMC Racing Team at Volta Ciclista a Catalunya
15 March 2018 Santa Rosa, California (USA)
Tejay van Garderen will return to the start line in Spain next week where he is set to lead BMC Racing Team's General Classification ambitions at Volta Ciclista a Catalunya (19 - 25 March).
A strong and well-rounded team will support Tejay van Garderen at the seven-day UCI WorldTour stage race, BMC Racing Team Sports Director Valerio Piva said.
"We are going into the race with Tejay as our leader for the General Classification. He is feeling good following his crash at Paris-Nice and he is really motivated to start racing. He has won stages here on two occasions in the past and both of those finishes will feature in this year's race, so he knows it well."
"We will have a strong team around Tejay and as well as looking for chances to go for the General Classification, the objective for everyone will be to try and win a stage. Patrick Bevin is coming out of a strong performance at Tirreno-Adriatico and perhaps he can try something on the first day. Then with Joey Rosskopf, Danilo Wyss, Brent Bookwalter, Loïc Vliegen and Nicolas Roche, who is coming from Paris-Nice, we have a good group of riders who can climb well, and this will important looking at this year's parcours. It will be a hard stage race, but I think we have the right people for the job and we will try to do a good race and support Tejay," Piva explained.
Van Garderen is looking forward to getting back to racing after being forced to withdraw from Paris-Nice following a crash on stage 1.
"I am feeling good on the bike. I was a little worried after my crash in Paris-Nice as you never know how hitting your head is going to affect performance. I took a few days off to recover, but after getting back on the bike, I haven't felt any ill effects from the crash. I like this year's Volta Ciclista a Catalunya course and I have good memories from both La Molina and Vallter 2000. This has been a race that has brought me lots of success in the past and I hope to keep that trend going. We have a strong, motivated team and we'll be looking to perform well," van Garderen said.
Volta Ciclista a Catalunya (19 - 25 March)
Rider Roster: Patrick Bevin (NZL), Brent Bookwalter (USA), Nicolas Roche (IRL), Joey Rosskopf (USA), Tejay van Garderen (USA), Loïc Vliegen (BEL), Danilo Wyss (SUI)
Sports Directors: Valerio Piva (ITA), Jackson Stewart (USA)
BMC Race Preview: https://www.bmc-switzerland.com/int-en/experience/the-feedzone/dennis_set_to_lead_bmc_racing_team_at_abu_dhabi_tour/