Nicolas Roche has been named on the BMC Racing Team line-up for the Vuelta a España which starts on Saturday 25 August. Richie Porte will lead the team in his bid to win his first Grand Tour.
It will be the eighth time that Roche has started the Vuelta and he has performed well in the Spanish race before. He won individual stages in both 2013 and 2015 and was also a member of the winning BMC team in the stage one team time trial last year. In addition, he has also taken two top-tens overall, finishing in 6th place in 2010 and 5th in 2013.
“I’m looking forward to racing at the Vuelta a España again,” said Roche. “This will be my eighth edition of the race and I always enjoy racing it. I also have a lot of good memories from this race and I have always gone well here.”
Also lining up alongside Roche and Porte will be Rohan Dennis, Alessandro De Marchi, Francisco Ventoso, Dylan Teuns, Brent Bookwalter and Joey Rosskopf.
Sports Director Jackson Stewart said that Porte will be joined on the start line for the third and final Grand Tour of the year by a team that brings a wealth of experience and talent to the race.
“I think we will start the Vuelta a España with a focused and well-rounded roster and myself and Klaas Lodewyck are both very motivated about going into the race with such a high calibre team. For Porte, this is his first race back after his crash so at first, we will need to see how he is feeling. But, I believe he will only grow stronger the further into the race we get so, initially we will try to focus on several stages in particular and from there, we will watch how the General Classification develops,” Stewart explained.
“We know that Rohan Dennis is very motivated for both time trials and that he has the ability to achieve success on those particular stages if not more throughout the race,” said Stewart.
“With Alessandro De Marchi, Nicolas Roche and Francisco Ventoso on the team, we have three riders who have all won individual stages of the Vuelta a España and not only do they bring this experience with them but they also have the strength to try something this year if the opportunity presents itself.
“Dylan Teuns, Brent Bookwalter and Joey Rosskopf are also all coming into the race in good form and I think we can expect to see strong efforts from them in the breakaways. Overall, we are looking forward to our last Vuelta a España as BMC Racing Team and particularly with this group of riders, all of whom have played such a big role in the team’s success over the past few years.”
