BMC Development Team’s Swiss aims for an historical “repeat” at the Easter Monday classic. In over 90 years of history, nobody has ever claimed consecutive wins
It’s official: Patrick Muller will take part in the 79th Giro del Belvedere on Monday April 19th in Villa di Cordignano (Treviso, Northern Italy), with the goal of achieving his second win in a row. In over 90 years of history, nobody has ever claimed consecutive wins at the U23 Easter Monday international classic.
After the powerful sprint of the 2016 edition at the end of a perfect race, BMC Development Team’s 20-year-old rider will try to give Switzerland the third win in the last 5 editions: the Swiss escalation had started in the 2013 season with Stefan Kueng’s win. The 2015 Individual Pursuit World Champion went on to become one of the best TT specialists around.
Muller has started quietly his third year in the U23 category with a tenth place claimed at Gent-Wevelgem/Kattekoers-Ieper, after an excellent 2016 season, characterized by a good feeling with Italian races: in addition to Belvedere’s win, Muller finished second at Trofeo Piva and fourth at Piccolo Giro di Lombardia.
The Swiss prospect will be supported by a strong team in his repeat attempt at Giro del Belvedere: U23 ITT Swiss Champion Martin Schäppi may be another valuable option for BMC’s Team Manager Jens Blatter, as well as 19-year-old Reto Muller, bronze medal in the Junior road race at the 2016 Doha World Championships. Belgian Steff Cras and New Zealand Sam Dobbs will round out the BMC Development Team’s line-up.
In the 2017 Giro del Belvedere, the riders will face a 166,6 Km route, characterized by two different circuits: the first (12 Km to be repeated 11 times) including the Conche hill, whilst the final circuit (17,3 Km to be repeated twice) is characterized by the classic Montaner climb in Borgo Canalet and Via delle Longhe hill.
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