Coming into Sunday’s National Road Race championships, BMC had every expectation that they could put on a formidable fight to win the stars and stripes jersey.  Though not the largest team in the race, they did come prepared with a deep enough team to put into play an intricate game plan.  With each teammate making a big contribution to the overall outcome, BMC could feel proud that it had propelled Jeff Louder into a position to fly the flag for the team at the front of the race.

With BMC well represented in the main break, race unfolds largely according to plan

Since history indicated that this course dictates a race of attrition, it was very important to keep the team leaders as fresh as possible for as long as possible.  That in itself is not an easy task over 177 undulating kilometers.  “Today was really a great race in terms of the team cohesion,” Directeur Sportif John Lelangue reported.  “When the big break for the day got away, we had Jonathan and Jackson in there covering the situation and taking the pressure off the guys in the pack.”  The break that initially contained 12 riders stayed away for a large portion of the day.  However, on the final ascent of Paris Mountain, Jonathan Garcia went off the front with one of the many Garmin riders in the race.  They were soon joined by several other splinter groups, which also contained Jeff Louder and Brent Bookwalter.  It was almost certain that the day’s winner would come from this group of 20 riders.  “BMC rode a great race, when you realize that we had three guys in the group of 20 and then had one guy in the final five,  it is pretty clear that we were fulfilling the game plane,” Jeff Louder said.  Jeff emerged, along with three Garmin riders and Tyler Hamilton from Rock Racing, as the group of five who would decide the overall winner of the 2008 National Championships.

Caught between a Rock and three Garmins

With barely 20 km to go before the finish, the furious racing caused a final selection.   “We were very happy to have Jeff up front in a position to battle it out for the win,” Lelangue said.  “With the composition of the break including three Garmin riders, it was always going to be difficult, and we can’t help but to be a little disappointed; nevertheless all the guys did a great job and that is just how racing goes sometimes.”  Jeff Louder appeared, along with Garmin’s Danny Pate, to be the strongest of the five.  “I did feel strong and maybe I showed it too much,” Louder admitted.  “I knew that I would have the advantage if the race came down to a sprint, but so did the other guys, so with three Garmins there to attack, attack, attack, I was really caught between a Rock and three Garmins!”  With the Garmin riders to contend with, Louder and Hamilton had to make a temporary truce.  “I don’t think Tyler and I were racing against each other since we knew that it was basically us against them,” Louder said.  “When he got away with Blake, I had to tread the fine line between chasing, and dragging the other two Garmin riders up to take the victory.”  Racing with the two Garmin anchors attached to his back wheel, Louder was faced with the unenviable choice of pulling one of two Garmin riders to victory or watching Hamilton and Caldwell fight it out 5 seconds up the road.  “I wish the scenario had played out differently, but they just kept hitting me and in the end I was spent,” Louder said.  “The team had raced so hard for me, so I wish I could have repaid them with something better than 5th place, but we’ll be back for more next year; heck we’ll be back next week to get some good results for Missouri.”

More evidence of BMC’s team spirit

Nine Americans from the BMC squad suited up for Sunday’s race.  Mike Sayers, racing his last Nationals as a professional is showing very good form, and proving why he is such a valued on-the-road leader.  “I flatted at the base of the first climb, and Mike was right there to give me a wheel,” Louder explained.  “Then Ian waited for me and paced me back up the climb.”  Something that could have spent a lot of energy became just a blip on the monitor.  Perhaps the only misfortune BMC faced on the day was when Tony Cruz was caught up in a late stage crash and had to abandon.  “Unfortunately, Tony was eliminated because there was a crash at the base of the last climb that he got caught up in,” Lelangue explained.  “We had Ian wait for him in case Tony was able to continue; then when Ian tried to rejoin, it had just become too fast, and he wasn’t able to make it to the front of the group again.”  “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I am just so proud of everyone on the team,” Louder beamed.  “It was a great team effort.  Hats off to Tyler too since he road a smart race and really took advantage of Garmin’s tactics.”  With several team objectives in Europe and the States still ahead for BMC, they are hoping to take their good form to bag a few more prizes before the off-season.  “For Missouri, we are bringing a team full of strong sprinters so that we can really be competitive and have a good ending to our domestic racing season,” Lelangue confirmed.