BMC planned to line up at the Tour de Wallonie with Philippe Gilbert who would have been the overwhelming favourite to win the race but after the world champion fell ill, the leadership role fell onto the shoulders of young Silvan Dillier. Today he paid back the confidence by sprinting to his second third place in two days.
Silvan Dillier of the BMC Racing Team sprinted to third place for the second straight day at the Tour de Wallonie Monday to move into fourth overall and hold onto his lead in the best young rider classification. Juan José Lobato (Movistar Team) won the 174-kilometer race ahead of overall leader Gianni Meersman (Omega Phama-Quick Step) while Dillier notched his fourth top-three placing of the season.
"It was not really nervous until the final," Dillier said. "On the last climbs, there were some attacks and it was a tactical race at the end. My teammates helped me well in the last kilometers. I would have liked to have won, but the last meters were hard and two other riders passed me."
BMC Racing Team Sport Director Rik Verbrugghe said he liked what he saw from the squad as Dillier (fourth, at 16 seconds off the lead) and teammate Sebastian Lander (sixth, at 19 seconds) remained in the top 10 overall.
"The team rode perfectly today," Verbrugghe said. "We took the responsibility when we needed to do it. "With 25 kilometers to go, Silvan attacked with a small group. Martin Kohler also attacked, too, and was countered by Zdenek Stybar. And then the team pulled the first group back to Stybar for the sprint."
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