Richie Porte stared at his TV, open-mouthed, as equally-stunned mates madly texted him.
Fabio Baldato quickly contacted Allan Peiper to say thank you.
And everyone at the BMC cycling team had that warm, happy feeling from the confirmation they've recruited a good 'un.
Miles Scotson's shock win a week ago in the men's road race at the national road championships has been the talk of Australian cycling.
In his first race for BMC, the former world track champion stunned the lead group with a solo attack inside the last two kilometres.
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Underlining the merit of the win was the quality of the riders he beat - Simon Gerrans was second and Nathan Haas took the bronze medal.
Most 22-year-old cyclists simply would not even contemplate such audacity, let alone pull it off.
Porte, the star BMC rider aiming to reach the podium at this year's Tour de France, notes he has been trying unsuccessfully for years to win the national title.
"I was sitting there watching the race and I had six, seven messages from mates in Tassie just going 'what the hell?'," Porte said.
Porte also noted with delight what happened when he texted his new teammate post-race.
"I sent him a message saying congrats and the first thing he says is 'yeah, I'm looking forward to helping you get a win next week'," he said.
It was typical of Scotson's demeanour post-race - rapt, pretty shocked, but respectful.
Porte, Scotson and Rohan Dennis are the three Australian riders at BMC and all of them will race this week at Adelaide's Tour Down Under.
Wearing the green and gold hoops on his team jersey as Australian champion is as good as a target on his back for Scotson.
But Baldato, the BMC team director, has no concerns about how Scotson will handle the extra attention and pressure.
"From what I see, he's a nice guy with his feet on the ground," Baldato said.
"At the moment he's an important rider for us, for sure - he won.
"But he needs to do it step-by-step and I don't think it will be a problem."
Baldato had heard of Scotson, but Peiper, the BMC performance director, is largely responsible for recruiting the Australian.
Scotson's younger brother Callum, a Rio Olympics silver medallist in the team pursuit, has also joined the BMC development team.
"I've already said thanks to Allan Peiper, because he'd been scouting this guy and believed in him," Baldato said.
While this is Scotson's WorldTour debut season, he also raced at the Tour Down Under two years ago as a member of the composite UniSA team.
