Staying safe and relaxed is the name of the game in Utah’s evening criterium

With their eyes firmly fixed on the overall prize at the Tour of Utah, the BMC squad in Utah raced the criterium with the sole purpose of staying as safe and rested as possible.  With Darren Lill’s stellar ride of the day before and Jeff Louder still firmly placed near the top of the overall classification, the BMC Racing Team had few goals aside from avoiding the inevitable crashes in the twilight criterium at the center of Salt Lake City.

After suffering the painful loss of Scott Nydam’s invaluable services when he crashed during the Tour of Utah’s Stage 2, BMC could be forgiven for feeling a little shell-shocked going into the hyper-risky night-time crit.  “The crit is luckily not too technical, and the major goal for the evening will certainly be to avoid the crashes and stay safe,” current best placed BMC member, Darren Lill predicted before the event.  Indeed, the race was fast and furious, but the team as a whole escaped unscathed.  “Nothing happened.  Everyone rode well, and the success of the evening is certainly that no one crashed,” Jeff Louder reported after the stage.  “Today was all about staying out of trouble and saving it for tomorrow.”  BMC brought the cream of its climbing crop to the Tour of Utah, so there was little expectation that the flat evening interlude offered by the criterium would have the team members doing anything else but biding their time.   “It was a nice mellow crit,” Louder said.

“Everyone is feeling good, and we are expecting good things for tomorrow.  We hope the results will be just as good as on Stage 2, but only better!”  As the team took 2nd and 3rd on the stage, moving very much within striking distance for the overall, there was little room left for interpretation regarding BMC ambitions for the Queen Stage of the Tour of Utah.  Even with a reduced number of riders, BMC is riding like a team ready to tackle any challenge.  “I am feeling good and the guys are giving me fantastic support,” Louder confided.  “Darren rode amazingly yesterday [in stage 2] which really made it possible for me to sit and relax – at least as much as you can relax with three big climbs to tackle!”  With two very strong cards to play, the team is feeling confident of its chances with only two stages remaining.  “Darren is probably stronger in the time trials than most of the other climbers here,” Gavin Chilcott said when assessing his squad.  “And we still have Jeff Louder very well placed, so we can feel very good about our positions at the moment.” 

For anyone who watched the Tour of California, Scott Nydam could very well be the face of BMC.  His loss due to a crash and broken collarbone in the Tour of Utah’s second stage will be acutely felt by his team mates.  “Scott crashing out will be a big loss for the whole team since he was riding so strongly,” Darren Lill said shortly after finishing Stage 2.  But there is every hope that Nydam will make a speedy recovery from this most inopportune injury.  “Around 3pm Friday I got out of surgery on the collarbone,” Nydam reported.  “Within 24 hours of the crash I have had surgery and am now on the road to recovery.”  Luckily for the rider, it was a clean break and the prognosis is good.  “Dr. [Eric] Heiden took care of me after the crash and drove me back to the hotel,” Nydam said.  “I immediately had ex-rays, and then sat with Gavin deciding that we should send me straight into surgery.”  Going under with a full anaesthetic, Nydam woke up a couple of hours later with a plate in his collarbone.  “Everything is going well,” Scott said.  “I feel incredibly well supported by the team and am now looking forward to recovering as quickly as possible.”  After a couple of weeks recuperating with friends and family, Nydam will be excited and ready to face the challenges remaining for the rest of the year.