When Rohan Dennis and Nicolas Roche signed on for stage 2, the team was going for the leader's maglia rosa but not sure about how successful it would be. Now the jersey is on the shoulders of Dennis and the team plans to defend it.
Nicolas Roche BMC to defend Giro d'Italia maglia rosa
Having taken the leader's maglia rosa jersey on stage 2 of the Giro d'Italia into Tel Aviv, BMC Racing plans to defend it as far as they can.
That will likely mean Nicolas Roche will have to put his own ambition aside for now.
Rohan Dennis took an intermediate sprint, and three second time bonus, during today’s second stage.
The Australian started the day just two seconds down on stage 1 TT winner Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb).
And now Dennis leads from Dumoulin by just one second. Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Soudal) is third at three seconds.
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The European TT champion; he had finished equal on time with Dennis in the TT, also two seconds down.
And now having taken the coveted Giro d'Italia maglia rosa, BMC Racing says it really wants to keep it.
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Roche watches on as Dennis signs on this morning. Stage 1 TT winner Dumoulin at the start area today, in the maglia rosa, with his team mates.
BMC's sports director Max Sciandri said they wanted to hold it and pay tribute to BMC owner Andy Rihs who died last week.
"We are going to defend the jersey with every bit of energy because the value it gives to every other result will be high,” he said.
“We are not going to give it away and we will hold onto it for as long as we can.”
He also said it was hard to convince Dennis he could take the race lead via the time bonus sprint.
"This morning, I needed to get people to bite onto it and I needed Rohan to believe,” he said.
“I think he was a little bit afraid of the word sprint. I think he didn’t want to disappoint anyone by trying and then failing. So it was a slow process to get him there.
“My plan coming into the stage was to try and get the jersey. And slowly but surely everyone came around to that idea.
“The guys were all together and we were able to close the gap to the breakaway. Earlier in the day, Campenaerts was trying something but we showed we could close the gap.
“Then, Rohan said on the radio that he wanted Jurgen to lead him out and from there it fell into place.
"This was something we had to work on. It wasn't given to us but the teamwork was really closing the breakaway and winning the sprint.
“When I came to the Giro, I always had in my mind the first day with Rohan. But it didn't happen.
“However I still dreamt about it last night. And I still wanted something for Andy Rihs. Something for everything he has given to us and we gave him something special today."
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