Thor Hushovd wears the yellow jersey during Stage 3Three of the 2011 Tour de France, July 4, 2011. (Michael Steele/Getty Images)The breakup of the powerhouse HTC team has released a lot of great riders into the market. It has also spurred speculation of which team might assemble the next unbeatable squad?
It looks like the American BMC Racing Team is going to be a contender.
BMC has signed four powerful new riders, two proven veterans and two young lions: World Champion Thor Hushovd, a sprinter-turned all-rounder; five-time Italian Time Trial Champion Marco Pinotti; Belgian Philippe Gilbert, a multiple Classics winner who has already won 16 races in 2011; and HTC’s frequent Best Young Rider Tejay Van Garderen.
Spain's Marco Pinotti wears the leader's pink jersey at the start of Stage Two of the 2011 Giro d'Italia, May 8, 2011. (Luk Benies/AFP/Getty Images)Hushovd, Norway’s “God of Thunder,” started out as a sprinter and has transformed into a roleur, winning two stages in the 2011 Tour de France, and wearing the mailot jaune for eight days. Hushovd wants to win Paris-Roubaix, the most prestigious of the One-Day Classics, and probably wants to win more stages in Grands Tours.
At Garmin Cervelo, Hushovd was in a difficult position; he was second to sprinter Tyler Farrar, and second to Johann Van Summeren in the Classics. He may find himself in a similar position at BMC, where Greg van Avermaet and Philippe Gilbert will also expect team support in the Classics.
Philippe Gilbert, wearing yellow, competes in Stage Two, the 23-km team time trial of the 2011 Tour de France, July 3, 2011. (Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images)35-year-old Marco Pinotti, currently with HTC-Highroad, will be BMC’s new time-trial specialist, wining stages and assisting early in climbing stages. A rider who can stay near the top of the General Classification during a long stage race is a great benefit—Pinotti could take some of the pressure off BMC team leader Cadel Evans in the 2012 Tour.
Tejay Van Garderen wears the race leader's yellow jersey as he rides the Stage Three time trial at the 2011 Tour of Utah, August 25, 2011. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)Philippe Gilbert, the 29-year-old Omega Pharma-Lotto rider, has been having a career year, winning almost everything he has entered. Gilbert can sprint, climb and TT well enough to win Classics and short stage races, and could certainly win stages in Grands Tours. Even more than Pinotti, Gilbert will be a second threat in the longer stage races to take pressure off of Cadel Evans.
Tejay Van Garderen, another HTC rider, has impressed everyone with his performance. Only 23 years old, Van Garderen is the future face of American cycling. Van Garderen has been winning national championships steadily since he was twelve years old, and has not lost anything since moving to professional racing.
While he has yet to win a Grand Tour stage (aside from the team time trial in the 2010 Vuelta,) Van Garderen will be a huge aid to Cadel for those races, and could become the team leader in a few years if he chooses to stay.
BMC already have Tour de France winner Cadel Evans and ultimate domestique and Classics rider George Hincapie—plus Classics riders Greg van Avermaet and Allesandro Ballan, young American Taylor Phinney—two-time winner of the UCI Track Cycling Individual Pursuit—and excellent support from riders like Brent Bookwalter, Johan Tschopp and Marcus Burghardt.
For the past several years HTC-Highroad has been the winningest team in cycling, but their budget got too big for the available sponsorship. BMC seems to be finding the money to build the next “Best in the World” pro cycling team.
