Patrick Bevin and his BMC Racing unit didn't meet expectations. Photo / Getty
Patrick Bevin has lost the leader's jersey at the Tour of Britain after a disappointing team time trial by his BMC Racing squad.
BMC - Tour de France team time trial winners, usual masters of the discipline and one of the favourites for the stage - could only muster sixth
place, 38 seconds behind victors LottoNL-Jumbo. As a result, Bevin has slipped to fourth overall in the general classification, and most alarmingly for his chances of overall glory, the new leader is Slovenian superstar Primoz Roglic.
Bevin's path to victory depended largely on being in the lead after the team time trial and holding on, with tomorrow's uphill finish on stage six perfectly suiting the likes of Roglic and second-placed Julian Alaphilippe, while the lumpy stage seven and straightforward final stage aren't likely to distance such classy riders.
While Bevin remained extremely strong, leading his team across the line in this morning's 14 kilometre team time trial from Cockermouth (No, that is unfortunately not a typo) to Whinlatter Pass, BMC weren't at their usual level. With the team's time being taken for their fourth rider to finish, BMC lost one of their six riders early, and their fifth with still over five minutes remaining in their effort.
That left Tejay van Garderen, Stefan Kung, Jurgen Roelandts and Bevin to hang on for the tough uphill final kilometres, and surprisingly Kung - one of the world's best time trialists - couldn't quite keep the pace, slowing down BMC's effort and resulting in the fifth-place finish.
