The BMC squad of Brent Bookwalter, Taylor Phinney, Michael Schär, Lawrence Warbasse and Greg Van Avermaet have won the second stage of racing at the Tour of Qatar (the Team Time Trial) in a time of 16:07. BMC ultimately managed to outclass Team Sky across the second half of the 14km Al Rufaa Street course to keep them in second place (+5seconds), with the BMC win seeing the overall lead position of Bookwalter – who went clear to win Stage 1 on Sunday – extended to 6seconds. Going into today’s Stage 3, 143km Al Wakra to Mesaieed, Bookwalter’s teammates Taylor Phinney and Adam Blythe sit in second and third place respectively. BMC Racing Team Assistant Director Jackson Stewart said specific practice for the Team Time Trial during last month’s training camp in Spain had paved the way for yesterday’s success; commenting ‘We had our rotations down and I thought we did everything perfectly. We only lost Steve Cummings, Adam Blythe and Yannick Eijssen at the end…’
Further details on the official race website letour.com
Image ©BMC/Tim De Waele