Having broken his femur last June and undergone a complex bone graft operation in December, Craig Lewis’ showing at the Tour de Langkawi has been given a thumbs up by his team manager Ed Beamon.
The 27 year old American rider has had a very disrupted training schedule since his Giro d’Italia crash, yet placed fifteenth in the opening time trial last Friday and was a solid 22nd on yesterday’s Genting Highlands stage. That saw him end the day fifteenth overall in the 2.HC-ranked race.
Given that he can be expected to make further improvements as his limb strengthens and he clocks up more racing miles, a strong season could be in store.
“I’m really, really happy with Craig’s ride. It was a big test for him,” Beamon told VeloNation during a video interview yesterday.
“I think he did a solid job. He probably struggled a little bit in the last five kilometers when it really got steep, but I think he’s going to be really encouraged by the ride, and it shows he back on track.”
Beamon was also pleased by the performance put in by former BMC Racing Team rider Chris Butler. His performance was hampered by an incident before the final climb, yet he recovered to finish eighth yesterday and is now tenth overall.
“He was caught on a crash, we couldn’t get the car to him,” Beamon explained. “He was well off the back when the climb started and had to ride through to the front group, then we had to do a bike change with about 15 kilometres to go. He really kept his composure, recovered well, then put a big dig in with two kilometres to go and split the group up.”
Beamon’s team is in its first season with a Pro Continental licence and has a four year goal of becoming a UCI WorldTour squad. He’s satisfied thus far with how the team has performed, but has a big target he wants to achieve before the end of the race.
“We still need to get Anuar a stage,” he said. “We are still looking for a sprint, and we think we have finally got the train dialed in now.”
See below for the full video interview: