Miles Scotson completed a dream day for BMC Racing as the young Australian put some more miles on the clock of his professional career with a fine third-place finish on Stage 4 of the Abu Dhabi Tour.
Scotson zipped round the short 12.6km time trial stage around Al Maryah and Al Reem Island in a brisk 14m 37.14s – finishing just over a second behind Team Sky’s Jonathan Castroviejo and 15 behind BMC colleague Rohan Dennis.
The duo were joined in the top 10 by teammates Brent Bookwalter, who finished sixth, and Patrick Bevin in eighth, with other team-mates Joseph Rosskopf (16th) and Damiano Caruso (23rd) claiming finishes inside the top 25.
And Campbelltown native Scotson was pleased with a good day both collectively and personally.
“We’re a bit of a time trial team so four in the top 10 is a great day for us, especially with some pretty established time trialists in the field,” said the 24-year-old, who has made a name for himself since arriving on the WorldTour with BMC last season.
“Rohan put a good gap into the GC guys which is perfect and when he doesn’t have bad luck he really smashes time trials and he did that today. Four in the top 10 is great and shows the team is in good shape which we’ll need to hold onto red jersey.”
A 👌 day @Abu_Dhabi_Tour! Take a look at some of our photos from #RideToAbuDhabi stage 4 including @RohanDennis and @MilesScotson on the podium 👇. 📷: LaPresse - Ferrari / Paolone pic.twitter.com/7JedXX8lWQ
— BMC Racing Team (@BMCProTeam) 24 February 2018
Scotson won the road race title at the Australian National Road Championships in his debut campaign with the Swiss team and admits a podium place in Abu Dhabi – as well as taking charge if the white jersey for best young rider – gives him confidence for the future.
“For me it was my first top three in a WorldTour time trial. It’s taken me 12 months since the U23s to have the strength and power to match to the top guys so I’m happy with today,” he added.
“I’ve been solid the last year. I had some top 10s in WorldTour time trials last year but top three in a strong field was a confidence boost. It wasn’t a long course which suits me, I would have preferred a shorter one, but I’m happy with third.
“Next for me is some Classics coming up. After this I’ll just stick to one day races and maybe I’ll do some one week races like Tour of California which will give me the chance to test myself again in the time trial. It’s all a learning curve.”
