Adam Blythe given free reign in the sprints, Ballan and Pinotti for overall
Having completed the Tour of Qatar, the BMC Racing Team will stay in the Middle East and head onto to race the Tour of Oman next week. The race runs from the 14th – 19th February and Assistant Director Michael Sayers has explained the team has a two-pronged attack for the event.
“Our ambitions are to get a stage win and to have someone finish high in the overall standings,” he said, laying out the goals.
The likely candidate for the bunch sprints will be Adam Blythe who recently had a good run in Qatar. He finished second on stage one behind Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and, despite ill-timed punctures and crashes, went on to finish the race in tenth place overall.
“I’ve never done this race before, but you can’t get any racing like it back home this time anywhere in Europe,” Blythe said. “I’m off to a good start and I’ve got a good foundation to build upon.”
Thor Hushovd and Philippe Gilbert were part of the team in Qatar, but will make way for Alessandro Ballan and Marco Pinotti. New recruit Pinotti has had some success in the race before when he finished fourth overall in 2010. The team will be hoping he is on similar form as he and Ballan are its men for the overall.
Taylor Phinney is also expected to make an impact as he continues his second year in the pro ranks. He had a stellar debut for the team last year winning the Eneco Tour individual time trial, amongst a host of other top ten results.
BMC Racing Team Tour of Oman roster (Feb. 14-19):
Alessandro Ballan (ITA), Adam Blythe (GBR), Martin Kohler (SUI), Klaas Lodewyck (BEL), Taylor Phinney (USA), Marco Pinotti (ITA), Michael Schär (SUI), Danilo Wyss (SUI)