Michael Schär of BMC is usually known as a powerful, loyal domestique who excels in the Cobbled Classics but in the 2014 Tour of Utah, he used his power to devastating effect to solo to a victory after dropping fellow breakaway hard man Jens Voigt. He took time out of his bust schedule to tell CyclingQuotes about his objectives for 2015, Cadel Evans and Cobbles.

When Schär, who is 28 and has ridden for BMC since 2010, took the win in Utah, holding off the sprinters by just 2 seconds, he took his first professional win in a career dedicated to serving riders like Thor Hushovd, Cadel Evans, Philippe Gilbert and, most recently, Greg van Avermaet and Tejay van Garderen.

“My win in the second stage of Tour of Utah was a very special one for me. It was an incredibly long way towards the finish on this solo. I dropped all my breakaway companions and suffered cramps towards the end. Luckily I could hold the peloton off, by just a minimum advantage. Every year I like to come back to the Tour of Utah and in general, racing in the USA is very attractive to me.”

The Swiss rider arrived at BMC at the same time as Australian Cadel Evans, who is retiring from cycling after the Tour Down Under in January 2015, putting an end to a glittering career in cycling. It is quite fitting that Schär, who has ridden so hard for Cadel Evans over the years, such as Evans first Grand Tour stage win for BMC in the 2010 Giro, and Schär was one of his loyal domestiques that day, will be in Australia to help him see out his career in front of his adoring home fans. But his biggest achievement, as he says, is being part of Evans winning Tour de France team in 2011.

“For the season in 2015 I have the goals to start out strong and support Cadel Evans in his last race of his career, the Tour Down Under. It will be a big change to miss Cadel after all the years together in BMC; we rode over five seasons together. It was an amazing time with many nice successes, the top for me was to be part of the winning Tour de France team in 2011.”

Just like in every season since joining BMC, Schär’s biggest goal for 2015 is the few weeks in March and April, where he often rides from Milan-Sanremo to Amstel Gold, as well as more recently taking part in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Strade Bianche, beginning his Classics campaign even earlier. However, he has also played key roles for teammates in races like Tirreno-Adriatico, Tour of Switzerland, Tour of Qatar, US Pro Challenge and, most importantly, the Tour de France, which he has ridden every year since 2011.

“After Australia I will focus on the classics, where I would like to go for some results of my own and also try to win a big one-day race with Greg Van Avermaet or Phil Gilbert. My favorite classic of the season is Paris - Roubaix, this would be a dream to succeed in any way there. Then I will try to be on the top of my shape for the Tour de France again.”

Schär is frequently in the top 40 at Flanders and Roubaix and could be useful as an attacker, like Garmin did with Johan van Summeren in 2011 Roubaix, where he slipped away to win. This is something Schär, with his physical prowess and cobbled experience and power could do.

But most likely, come the Classics, he will be the last man in front of Van Avermaet or Gilbert, piloting them safely through the bunch until they make their decisive move.

One thing is for sure, that if any of BMC’s stars, whether its Van Garderen, Gilbert or Van Avermaet, want to win the world's biggest bike races in 2015, they will need to rely on the strength of their Swiss teammate Michael Schär.