Cycling: Part #3 of our WorldTour team check. Today we take a closer look at US team BMC Racing, which suffered a painful departure last season in Cadel Evans, but signed a new top driver for 2016 in ex-Sky pro Richie Porte.
BMC Racing overview
It was an emotional, moving, and also successful 2015 season for the BMC Racing Team. Young Australian Rohan Dennis caused an early sensation with his victory at the Tour Down Under , which he followed up a few weeks later with a temporary hour record . Furthermore, the team and cycling in general lost one of their absolute figureheads in Cadel Evans – the Australian has been working solely as a brand ambassador for BMC since February and has hung up his cycling shoes.
The Classics season was disappointing for the US team, as both Classics specialists in the BMC ranks – Gilbert and van Avermaet – lacked the crucial luck and were repeatedly hampered by crashes and injuries . Looking back, riders and management will likely view the 2015 Tour de France with mixed feelings: The jubilation over Dennis's victory in the opening time trial , the success in the team time trial , and the impressive performance of Tejay van Garderen, who was in contention for the podium for a long time, is juxtaposed with the American's extremely bitter withdrawal due to health reasons.
The USA Pro Challenge, on the team's home turf, was a resounding success. Not only did Rohan Dennis celebrate his second stage race victory of the season, but Taylor Phinney's comeback after his serious injury was a particularly impressive achievement. The season also concluded with the World Championship title in the team time trial and a stage win at the Vuelta a España by Alessandro de Marchi.
For 2016, BMC has added an incredibly strong rider in Australian Richie Porte , who was one of the key figures in Chris Froome's Tour de France victory this season. Even though the 31-year-old had some difficulties as team leader at the Giro d'Italia, he is looking forward to the challenge at BMC, where he is particularly excited about taking on more responsibility for himself and his team. From a German perspective, we will certainly also be keeping a close eye on the young Rick Zabel, who celebrated his first ever professional victory last season .
BMC Racing - Transfers
Departures: Cadel Evans (retired), Campbell Flakemore (retired), Klaas Lodewyck (retired), Peter Stetina (Trek Segafredo),
Additions: Richie Porte (Team Sky), Loic Vliegen (Neo), Floris Gerts (Neo), Tom Bohli (BMC Development Team)
BMC Racing - team bikes and equipment
Team bike: Unsurprisingly, the BMC pros will once again be riding bikes from the Swiss supplier and namesake in 2016. Gilbert, van Garderen, and their teammates will likely spend most of their time in the saddle of the teammachine SLR01 ( see the Velomotion test ride ). On the rough, rugged roads of the spring classics, we might also see one or two riders on the endurance model Granfondo GF01 . In the time trials, the bike of choice will probably be the aero model timemachine TM01.
Components: As in previous years, all components, from the derailleur and brakes to the wheels, come from Shimano. We will therefore see the Dura-Ace Di2 on most team bikes – unless one or two riders opt for a mechanical groupset after all.
Disc brakes: While BMC has an equipment partner in Shimano, which already offers several competition-proven models for both brakes and wheels , the situation is rather different when it comes to frames. Although the Granfondo GF01 comes with disc brakes for 2016, this endurance model is likely only an option for a small number of riders and in a limited number of races. Therefore, we will probably still see most riders using conventional rim brakes in 2016.