On Sunday BMC conquered the world title team time trial at the World Championships in Richmond for the second year in a row. It was a battle with Etixx – QuickStep, Movistar and Orica – GreenEdge. The American team set the best times over the entire course and at the finish they were eleven seconds faster than Etixx – QuickStep and thirty seconds ahead of Movistar.

Before the WorldTour teams, the Continental and Pro Continental teams got on the course. Of the Continental teams the American Optum Pro Cycling team set the best result. Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise, which achieved the sixteenth place, was the first non-WorldTour team in the ranking. Then it was the Dutch team Lotto NL – Jumbo that set a fast time which other WorldTour teams couldn’t easily beat. At every time check Lotto Soudal was a few seconds slower than Lotto NL – Jumbo. Eventually, Lotto Soudal finished after 43’34” and achieved its top ten goal by ending up as seventh. Orica – GreenEdge didn’t succeed in setting a time that was good enough to step on the podium. It was Movistar that could take place next to Etixx – QuickStep and BMC. BMC needed 42’08” to cover the 38.8 kilometres.

“We are very satisfied with this seventh place. Before the race, a top ten place was the goal we had set. We were hugely disappointed last year, so this result is very good," sports director Herman Frison said. 

"The preparation for the team time trial was perfect, the past week we could train in a serene atmosphere and work on the automatisms. All guys rode the races in Canada so they didn’t need to adapt to the time zone anymore. They were fresh and motivated, we deliberately chose not to select anyone who rode the Vuelta, and I think that was the right choice. The course suited us, it was relatively flat with a few tougher sections.

“I thought we got in the right rhythm quite soon. With only six riders in the team you have to make sure you don’t lose someone very early in the race, but still you need to develop a pace as high as possible, knowing that the course wasn’t easy at the end. The intermediate times gave us an idea of our position and that result was confirmed at the finish. The four expected teams were the best and behind them the others were close together.

"Tim [Wellens] got dropped with ten kilometres to go and was disappointed about it, but that’s not what counts in a team time trial. Everyone is riding at his limit. Other teams already lost riders earlier. We didn’t panic, not even when Jürgen [Roelandts] was distanced a bit later as well. In the final phase the pain was big, but the result is good!”