Five riders from Richmond winning effort named in team
Rohan Dennis in the leader's jersey after stage 1 at the Vuelta a Espana (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Rohan Dennis and Stefan Küng will headline BMC Racing's team time trial effort at the UCI Road World Championships on Sunday as the team bids to regain the title it won in 2014 and 2015. BMC placed second behind Quick-Step Floors a year ago in Doha.
The experienced team features five of the riders who claimed gold in Richmond two years ago, with Dennis and Küng joined Daniel Oss, Silvan Dillier and Manuel Quinziato, as well as Worlds team time trial debutant Miles Scotson. Americans Tejay van Garderen and Joey Rosskopf have been named as reserves.
Dennis, Oss, Dillier and Quinziato were also world champions in the discipline in Ponferrada in 2014, and the team can count on the input of BMC performance director Marco Pinotti, who was part of BMC's silver medal ride in the inaugural team time trial Worlds in 2012.
"We have two pure top-level specialists like Rohan Dennis and Stefan Küng, two strong and powerful assets in Daniel Oss and Silvan Dillier, one experienced road caption in Manuel Quinziato, and Miles Scotson, who is young but has an established background in team pursuit," Pinotti said. "So we have a mix of strength, experience, and freshness."
Directeur sportif Jackson Stewart said that the Bergen parcours had more in common with Richmond and Ponferrada than the pan flat route in Doha a year ago.
"It's probably a combination of the Ponferrada and Richmond courses. The course is hillier but it is really suited to our team," he said. "The longer climb in the last third of the race will be a crucial part where you need to stay together and hopefully have the whole team arrive together in the center of Bergen."
Dennis and Oss were both part of BMC's winning effort on the opening team time trial stage of the Vuelta a España, where Dennis wore the first red jersey of the race. The Australian is also among the contenders for the individual time trial title in Bergen.
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"Team time trials are a special race in my opinion. It's not about one guy who wins the race it is more about how the team works together to go as fast as possible together," Dennis said. "I actually haven't seen or looked at the Bergen course at all. I like to get to the race and see the course with my own eyes instead of taking everyone else's opinions and thoughts first, so I'm looking forward to seeing it this week."
Sunday's event will also be the final race of Manuel Quinziato’s career. The Italian law graduate announced earlier this year that he was hanging up his wheels at the end of the season and plans to begin a new career as a rider agent.
"It was an amazing feeling to be world champions in 2014 and 2015. You can call yourself world champion for the whole year. They were two of the greatest moments of my whole career," said Quinziato. "The team time trial in Bergen will be the last race of my career so it will be really special. I'm looking forward to that. The course is fast but there are also some climbs so it will be really important to race smoothly and as a team."
BMC Racing for elite men's team time trial at UCI Road World Championships: Rohan Dennis (Aus), Silvan Dillier (Swi), Stefan Küng (Swi), Daniel Oss (Ita), Manuel Quinziato (Ita), Miles Scotson (Aus). Reserves: Tejay van Garderen (USA), Joey Rosskopf (USA).
