Eighth Win In August
“I am so happy. There are a lot of emotions,” Cummings said. “I’m relieved and glad. It’s just nice to do something nice for the team because they’ve been so supportive. It’s a good moment for everyone.” Cummings’ victory comes less than a week after teammate Philippe Gilbert won Stage 9 of the Vuelta on Sunday. It is the eighth victory for the BMC Racing Team in the month of August and the team’s 17th overall ? by 10 different riders. Cummings soloed in four seconds ahead of Cameron Meyer (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Juan Antonio Flecha (Sky Procycling), respectively, with the peloton arriving 40 seconds later. Cummings said he waited for the perfect moment to launch his attack ? first following a move by Flecha before countering with an attack of his own at the end of the 172.8 kilometer race. “I tried to wait as long as possible,” Cummings said. “I think I played it really well. I just waited for a good opportunity. With a kilometer to go, I saw them sit up, so I knew I’d won; so I could enjoy it a bit more. But before then, it was head-down, go-as-hard-as-I-could, because they weren’t far behind.”
Winning From Breakaways
BMC Racing Team Directeur Sportif John Lelangue said the quality of the breakaway ? which enjoyed a maximum lead of about four minutes ? made it a threat to stay away once it got clear of the peloton after 40 kilometers. “When you have guys like Linus Gerdemann, Flecha, Meyer and Thomas de Gendt ? all of those guys are good time trialists, good roleurs, all going together pretty smoothly,” Lelangue said. “The good thing was that once they hit 15 km to go, they got a tailwind and could really open the gas.” Lelangue said with no clear leader for the general classification and no pure sprinter, the BMC Racing Team will continue to hunt stage wins out of breakaways. “Even with three big mountain stages ahead, let’s hope we can have a nice break with one of our climbers and maybe go for a third victory,” Lelangue said. The overall standings remained unchanged Friday, with Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha Team) keeping the lead.
Overcoming Adversity
Prior to Friday, Cummings’ best result of the season was a 15th place on Stage 7 of the Tour de Suisse. It was his first victory since winning Stage 3 of the Volta ao Algarve on Feb. 18, 2011. The 2011 Tour of Britain runner-up has faced his share of adversity this year, enduring an injury-plagued season that includes a broken left wrist at Vuelta al Pais Vasco, a broken pelvis at Volta ao Algarve and an injured left wrist at the Amgen Tour of California. His win adds to those this month by teammates Gilbert (Vuelta a Espa?a, Stage 9), Taylor Phinney (USA Pro Challenge, Stage 7), Tejay van Garderen (USA Pro Challenge, Stage 2), Alessandro Ballan (Eneco Tour of Benelux, Stage 7), Johann Tschopp (Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah overall and Stage 5) and Adam Blythe (Paris-Corr?ze, Stage 1).
