All eyes may be on the pre-race favourites with the Giro d’Italia just a day away but behind every team leader there’s a committed squad of domestiques.
And, in the eyes of BMC Racing’s Cadel Evans, his support team for the 97th edition of the Giro is the best he’s ever had – even stronger than the squad that helped the Australian to the 2011 Tour de France title.
Among the riders set to roll out alongside the veteran in Friday’s team time trial are three of the riders who helped him to victory in France – Brent Bookwalter, Steve Morabito and Manuel Quinziato.
Bookwalter has overcome a knee injury which ruled him out of for part of the spring, having earlier played a key role in Evans’ stage win and second place overall at the Tour Down Under.
And the American believes experience will be the key as he bids to propel Evans to the top step of the podium
“I think we have a great team here,” Bookwalter told RoadCyclingUK. “Looking at the roster, we don’t have any rookies here.
“Looking back to when I was last at the Giro with Cadel, in 2010, that was my first Grand Tour and I think we had maybe four or five other guys who were also racing their first or second Grand Tour.
“So compared to that, it’s a totally different world this time out. There’s a lot of energy and a lot of experience in the team and I think we’ll complement each other well.”
Also set to roll out for BMC Racing in Belfast are Daniel Oss, Danilo Wyss, 2008 Olympic champion Samuel Sanchez and Belgian duo Ben Hermans and Yannick Eijssen.
To win a Grand Tour takes complete and utmost focus and execution and tenacity and resilience – Brent Bookwalter
On paper, it’s a strong line-up as Evans seeks to better his surprise third place from last year having put his entire focus on this year’s race – but experience has shown Bookwalter it takes far more a strong team on paper to win a Grand Tour.
He explained: “To win a Grand Tour, in my experience – obviously I’ve only been part of one – it just takes so much.
“It takes complete and utmost focus and execution and tenacity and resilience and just the drive to keep going and stay focussed.
“You have to take it one moment at a time – you can’t get stuck in the past and you can’t get caught looking too far into the future.
“I think you treat each moment and each day as an important one and execute it the best you can together and when it’s done you can do a little analysing and assessing and then it’s quickly onto the next one.
“It doesn’t matter what stage you’re at, there will always be a lot ahead of you.”
Bookwalter has established himself as a key domestique at BMC Racing since arriving in 2008 and believes his experience in the role in invaluable at a Grand Tour.
“I think the more experienced I get, the more depth I get, and the longer I’m a professional and the more races I do, the more diverse my skillset becomes,” he said. “I can take on different roles within the team.
“At the moment it’s a case of seeing how the race unfolds and looking at what gaps need filling in. I think all of our team are good all-rounders. None of us are the best climbers or the best time trialists or the best Classics riders but I think we’ve got a versatile and diverse skillset.
“It’s really important we all feed off each other and work for each other. Each one of us is not going to have a good day every day, hopefully we don’t all have a bad day on the same day!
“We ride with each other and for each other and you’ve got to keep up that ‘all for one, one for all’ mentality and pick up the slack. If you do your best deep down for each other, that’s in the best interests of all of us.”
Despite his early-season knee injury – which saw him miss a month of racing in March – Bookwalter is ready to fulfill his duty and is eagerly awaiting the start of the race in Belfast.
“I’m happy with my form,” he added. “I wasn’t able to do one of the big races of spring like Tirreno-Adriatico or Pais Vasco, I’ve had a more non-traditional build up to the Giro but I’m taking confidence from my experience and my history.
We got into Belfast and have been out for a wet, authentic Irish ride. The start up here in Belfast looks very technical – Brent Bookwalter
“It’s not my first Grand Tour, it’s not my first time around this block. I know what to expect and I know where I am now. I know my role within the team and I’m ready to go.
“I’m feeling alright, I’m feeling happy. I’m fit, motivated, fresh and just biding my time now until the start of the race.
“We got into Belfast and have been out for a wet, authentic Irish ride and we’re now just checking all the boxes and putting together our final preparations for the race. We’re just waiting at this moment.”
The first three days of racing in Ireland promises to be quite a spectacle, with the flat parcours not to be taken lightly in Bookwalter’s opinion.
But having studied his race book on arrival in Belfast, the American insists the route should hold no fear if it is treated with respect.
“We just got our race books and I’ve allowed myself my one full look-through,” he explained.
“Usually I let myself take a slow look at every stage once and then just focus on the immediate and the now because it can become quite daunting if you’re looking down to the climbs in the last week.
“But it’s an impressive, massive route. The start up here in Ireland looks very technical – obviously there’s the time trial and then lots of coastal roads and narrow roads. The riding we have done here was all broken pavement and crooked and it was windy and rainy.
“Pretty much right from the get go there are some demanding uphill finishes and long stages. It’s typical of most of the Giros I have been a part of.
“I’m definitely very pleased they organised the extra rest day to get back to the Italian mainland. That’s probably in the best interests of the race and the riders and will yield some big results later on in the race.”
Kicking off with the team time trial, BMC Racing have marked themselves as among the favourites for the opening stage after winning in the discipline at the Giro del Trentino.
World champions Omega Pharma-Quickstep are likely to provide stern opposition, however, as will the likes of Garmin-Sharp with Irish rider Dan Martin keen to make an early impression.
But Bookwalter believes coming into the race on the back of a victory has lifted morale in the BMC Racing camp ahead of Friday’s Grande Partenza.
He said: “Winning in Trentino in the team time trial was definitely a big confidence boost. We didn’t have our exact team there but if anything, on paper, the team we have here is even stronger.
“It was good to get out there and have that solid team effort where everyone gets to the line with their eyeballs popping out their heads and knowing that you can go to that point with each other and for each other and come out successful.
Winning the team time trial at the Giro del Trentino was a big confidence boost – Brent Bookwalter
“It went a long way to calming the nerves and knowing what to expect.”
The win, and Cadel Evans’ overall victory, was just the latest in a line of BMC victories this season. Taylor Phinney won in Dubai, Steve Cummings in the Mediterranean, Philippe Gilbert in the Amstel Gold Race and there have been a host of podium places for the team, too.
And Bookwalter believes we are seeing the profits of many years of hard work both on the bike and behind the scenes.
“It depends who you ask in terms of how good the team’s form has been and how successful we have been,” he admitted. “But there are definitely some good results there.
“This team is not in its infancy, it’s been around a while. I’ve been here since 2008 and I’ve seen it go through a lot of changes. Each year it changes a little bit, some years more than others, in the pursuit of excellence and performance.
“In the last off-season the management made some bigger changes and implemented a new infrastructure. It’s definitely helping the performance but at the end of the day it’s also a case of things just coming together.
“Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. You see it all the time in sports – teams will get on a roll, get some momentum and suddenly start getting faster. It’s all the outcome of a lot of hard work by a lot of people – not just the riders but the staff and equipment sponsors.
“It’s about looking at what we did last year and in the past and trying to step it up again for this year and I think so far we’ve done a pretty good job of it.”
As for whether they can keep up their good form at the Giro, Bookwalter is in no doubt – as long as luck is on their side, too.
“There are more factors than I can say for us to keep this going at the Giro. Everything has to fall on a plate,” he said. “Obviously you need some luck and some good fortune. Everyone needs to stay healthy.
“I’m confident we have everything we need here as a team for a successful performance so the most important thing now is to stay quiet, calm and confident and take each day as it comes. Evaluate and stay confident and true to our plans and then go from there.”
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