The BMC Racing Team will line up for the USA Pro Challenge in Colorado to help Tejay van Garderen win the team's fourth stage race of the season.

Van Garderen has participated in all three editions of the week-long, 954.5-km race that begins in Aspen on Monday. In 2011, he led the race for one day and finished third. Last year, he placed second overall after winning stage 2 and leading the race for three days. "I'm definitely motivated to win," van Garderen said. "It's not going to be easy. Garmin-Sharp has a really deep team. Sky has a really deep team. But I like my chances here."

Since finishing the Tour de France, van Garderen said he has been training around his home in Boulder and performing reconnaissance on some of the race's most crucial stages, including the uphill individual time trial in Vail on stage 5. "I've done a lot of work in the time trial position, going uphill," he said. "I think the biggest part of that is going to be the pacing strategy and doing a full-gas effort uphill at about 10,000 feet. It's easy to blow up, so you really have to pace yourself. I'm definitely hoping to have a better
run at it than I did in 2011." Van Garderen won the BMC Racing Team's first overall title of the year in May at the Amgen Tour of California. Greg Van Avermaet followed with the Tour de Wallonie in July and Thor Hushovd won the Arctic Race of Norway last week.

Strong team assembled
BMC Racing Team Assistant Director Jackson Stewart said a stronger squad surrounds van Garderen than when he won the Amgen Tour of California.

"Even though it is pretty much the same guys, technically it is a stronger squad because so many of these guys have had really strong rides since California," Stewart said. "Doing well is a matter of having good climbing days and doing a great time trial, and having a team that can look after Tejay. You saw that in California on the windy stage that blew it apart." Helping van Garderen will be Mathias Frank, who soloed to back-to-back victories on mountain-top finishes at the Tour of Austria, Brent Bookwalter – who has a pair of runner-up finishes at the USA Cycling national road championships to go along with a Tour of Qatar stage win – Swiss road champion Michael Schär, who was seventh overall at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah, and Van Avermaet, who won Stage 1 at Utah and finished runner-up on the next three stages.

BMC Racing Team USA Pro Challenge Roster (Aug. 19-25):
Brent Bookwalter (USA), Steve Cummings (GBR), Mathias Frank (SUI), Michael Schär (SUI), Julien Taramarcaz (SUI), Greg Van Avermaet (BEL), Tejay van Garderen (USA), Larry Warbasse (USA).