The American BMC Team is ready for the 2012 season. After having a great offseason, bring superstar riders Thor Hushovd and Philippe Gilbert to join 2011 Tour de France winner Cadel Evans, BMC looks set to dominate the ProTour. The hype around this team has attracted a lot media heading into this new season. Manager Gavin Chilcott and Directeur Sportif John Lelangue,
not wanting the overwhelming media to continually distracted their riders,
have hired a group of World-Class reporters to follow BMC through the 2012 season. Thus creating the BMC Paparazzi Project ...
These men have come all across the globe
to follow Team BMC for the 2012 season.
Here the numbers and facts of the crew as of today:
- 23,000+ Posts Combined
- 33rd Combined Average in Post Rank
- 21 Stories Longer than 5 Pages Combined
- 7 PCM.Daily Awards Combined
- 7,800+ Days Combined as Members of PCM.Daily
- That's Over 21 Years of Experience
21 Stories Longer than 5 Pages Combined. That means that this story will be atleast 105 pages long. Should be great!
Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realize fishing is stupid and boring.
"Hello one and all to the BMC 2012 Cycling Team Presentation! I am your host, valverde321, and sit back as I guide you through all you need to know about each and every rider on the team for the upcoming cycling season. As you may or may not know, we have maybe the best lineup in the ProTour with defending Tour de France Champ, Cadel Evans and classics specialist, Philippe Gilbert! So without further ado lets get started!"
Cadel is an Australian Stage-Racer with his most recent success coming just last season where he won the Tour de France, making him the defending champion! Early in his career, he received a lot of criticism for finishing 2nd in the Tour, on two occasions (2007, 2008). Before Cadel made it to the top ranks of the peloton, he was a Mountain Biker, winning the World Cup twice and finished 7th in the MTB CC event in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
He made the jump in 2001 racing for Saeco the Italian squad. That year he won the Tour of Austria, cementing himself as one of the better climbers from Australia, in his time. He then moved in and out of a few teams, before joining then names, Davitamon - Lotto the Belgian team, which he has stayed with, until 2010 when he joined BMC. Racing for Lotto, he was known as one of the best climbers to have never won the Tour, and many criticised him for his riding style, which fans felt, wasn't aggressive enough. Regardless of that, he was able to put out some solid results.
Now with BMC, he has really taken that final step, and become a Tour de France Champion. He has become a more attacking rider, and he has won even more with us, in this short time! Cadel is now a former World Champion, which only adds to his pedigree. With the 2012 season about to begin, we can only hope he has another terrific season!
His nickname is now Philippe "No introduction needed" Gilbert! And what has he done to not need an intro? Well he had one of the best cycling seasons a rider can have, last season.
He joined his first team in 2003, with FDJeux! He recorded a win that year, in the Tour de L'Avenir! He then went on and won a stage of the Tour Down Under in 2004 as well as the Under 25 Classification! In 2006 he won Omloop Het Volk and a stage in the Dauphine Libere. 2007 he stayed clear of any significant results, although in 2008 he came back and had his best year yet, winning Het Volk again, and taking 2nd place on the first stage of the Tour de France. Probably the biggest result though, was 3rd at Milan San Remo.
In 2009 he moved on to Lotto, Cadel Evans team at the time! He lead the team in the classics and took a 3rd at the Ronde van Vlaanderen. He also won the Giro di Lombardia after also winning Paris Tours, Piemonte and Coppa Sabatini just before. That was a great way to end the season for Gilbert! In 2010 he won the Amstel Gold Race and Lomardia again!
But now for his best season to date! 2011 was a season to remember for Gilbert! He started it out by winning Strade Bianchi a race with over 70km of dirt roads! He then went on to win the Quadruple winning De Brabanste Pijl, Amstel Gold Race, La Fleche Wallone, and LBL in the same season! He is the first rider to ever win the Quadruple and the first since Davide Rebellin to win AGR, LFW, and LBL in the same year! In June he went on to win his National Road Championships, meaning he was on good form for the Tour de France! So guess what? Gilbert won Stage 1 of the Tour de France, beating out Evans....He would lose the Yellow Jersey shortly after, but he battled for the Green jersey throughout. A week after the TDF had finished he won San Sebastien another of the seasons classics! He finished off his fine season with a win at the Grande Prix Cycliste de Quebec, although it didn't look as easy as some of his other wins!
What Philippe did that season, has made him a favourite for almost every hilly stage he is to enter, for years to come! It will be hard for anyone to repeat the type of season he had there, and I look forward to seeing someone try!
This year, Gilbert has joined BMC and his former teammate Evans, in hope of becoming the best cycling team in the world!
So who is this ugly guy? Well, you're looking at Thor Hushovd! He is one of the most popular riders in the peloton, and he comes from a country not typical of producing cycling talents, Norway. He is most popular in the UK and his home country Norway, because of his realistic support from his fans back home in Norway. With that support, you'd think he'd have won a Tour de France by now... Unfortunately for us, Thor has a nickname already, so I couldn't give him anything creative, but he is known as "The God of Thunder" coming from his first name he shares with the mythical god.
As a young rider, Thor was U23 ITT WC, and also won U23-Paris Roubaix. In 2001 he won the first stage of the Tour de France. In 2002 he won Stage 18 of the TDF. In 2004 he became Double Norwegian Champion winning both the RR and the TT. 2005 he won the Green Jersey at the Tour de France, and 3rd at Milan San Remo. In 2006 he won the First and last day of racing at the Tour de France, despite taking a serious cut to his arm in the first week. In 2007 he only had two wins, but the were both in GT's, the Giro and Tour! 2009 was one of his better years, as he went on to win another Tour de France stage and also won the Green Jersey, ahead of the newcomer, Mark Cavendish who felt he lost it unfarily. Despite this, Norwegian and UK fans, remain completely friendly to each other, especially when talking about the incident that happened, in which Cavendish "lost" the green jersey. But that year, he also established himself as a great classics rider! Winning Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, 3rd at Paris Roubaix, and 3rd at Milan San Remo, the sprinters classic.
In 2010 he won the World Championships in Australia ahead of Mark Cavendish, who was the favourite, but despite this, the UK fans were not at all mad, and even showed their happiness for Thor. He also finished 2nd at Paris Roubaix, and got his yearly stage win at the Tour de France! Then last season, he won 2 stages as a rider in the Tour de France, and also won Stage 4, the Team Time Trial as a team with Garmin - Cervelo. He had a great campaign and he generally known as one of the strongest sprinters in the world. He also loves the snow. Thor's goal this year is simple. To win a stage of the Tour and have a good classics campaign.
Tejay Van Garderen
- Tejay is one of our best young climbers, and he held a lot of promise for American cycling fans for years now! This could be his big break, so he will get many chances to lead some climbing races.
Matthias Frank
- Is one of our Swiss climbers, and he has been a great domestique for a while now too! Of course he may get a chance to lead himself, like Tejay and I think he can get the team a few good results.
Johann Tschopp
- Johann is one of the more popular Swiss climbers, and that really helps out the team! He hasn't really become that next top Swiss climber like Zulle was, but he will still get chances to lead the team, and he is the right age, that he can still improve!
Amael Moinard
- Moinard has had a good career, mostly with Cofidis, where he has been an important climber but now he comes to BMC and although he hasn't quite lived up to his potential, I think he will be a usefull rider for BMC!
Timothy Roe
- Roe is seen as a sort of heir to Evans in some ways and his role will be to learn from his this year and grow as a rider! We expect he can become a good climber in the future, but for now, its about experience.
Yannick Eijssen
- Yannick is another young climber, and we think he will be very good one day! Much like Roe, we want him to develop this year, so there is no pressure for results.
Marco Pinotti
- Pinotti is one of Italy's best TTers of this decade, and he will want to do well in his home country, and especially the Giro! He is important for TTT's and he is also a strong climber, so its possible he could lead the Giro lineup for BMC.
Brent Bookwalter
- Brent has been one of the best Prologue riders in the world recently, and he has done some great rides for BMC. We expect him to keep that up.
Taylor Phinney
- Taylor has really broken on to the scene since joining BMC and he was seen as America's biggest talent for a while although he will probably only become a top TTer. Stephen Cummings
- Stephen will not really be looking to get any great results, but he could get a few domestic results, in Britain and his strongest area is his Time Trial.
Alessandro Ballan
- Ballan is another former World Champion on the team, and we think he will give the team some balance in the classics. He will probably be a team-mate to Gilbert and Hushovd in the classics season, but he can lead some of the smaller races for sure!
George Hincapie
- He may not be at his former levels, but he is still very strong, and we are happy to have Big George on the team! Our classics team is very strong and if he was on another team he could probably be leader, but this proves how loyal George is!
Marcus Burghardt
- Marcus is one of our strongmen, and apart from being a great classics rider, he will also be a great leadout man!
Greg Van Avermaet
- Greg is only 26 years old, and has lots of potential ahead of him! I think he will use this year to learn under Gilbert and Ballan, and then in the next few years I think he can really win atleast one big classic.
Adam Blythe
- Adam is another rider that is joining from Lotto and he has the potential to be a very good sprinter! He should be able to get some good results this year!
Klaas Lodewyck
- Klaas is maybe not the most well known sprinter, but he should be able to get some results for BMC this year!
Danilo Wyss
- Wyss has always been one of BMC's sprinters, for the longest time! He will not be as pressured to get good finishes with more sprinters on the team now, but we hope he can do well!
Mauro Santambrogio
- Mauro is maybe strong enough to lead his own races, but with the depth of the team, he will realistically be riding for someone else for most of his races.
Manuel Quinziato
- Manuel is a great all-rounder and as well as being a good lead-out man, he can ride cobbles and hills fairly well, and timetrial. He will probably be an important part of the team this year, even if you dont see him much.
Ivan Santaromita
- Ivan will be that mountain goat, domestique that critiques have been saying Evans needs for many years now! He did manage to win last year, but defending will be even harder.
Steve Morabito
- He is a former rider of Astana, so he has worked for many great leaders. He will be asked to work for his leader most of the time, but Steve is a pro and knows his role well.
Michael Schar
- Schar will be needed in those flat races, and doing lead-outs is his speciality.
Martin Kohler
- Martin is a great TTer and also a good flats rider! He is quite underrated as a flat rider actually.
------------------------------------------
"Thank you for enjoying the BMC team presentation! It was fun presenting the team I'm sure it was fun for the management to assemble this team! Now we look forward to the season in which I hope we can win as many races as possible!
Saxo Bank
81. D.Tanner
82. J.Cantwell
83. L.Roberts
Champion
91. C.Wurf
92. W.Clarke
93. A.Kemps
Endura Racing
101. Z.Dempster
102. J.Anderson
103. D.Windsor
An Post
111. S.Law
Team Type 1
121. F.Calabria
PSK Whirlpool
131. J.Prete
16 times around the Buninyong circuit
will decide they Australian RR Champion.
BMC bring two riders,
Tim Roe and reigning Tour de France winner Cadel Evans.
The rain has greeted the riders at the startline, but that doesn't discourage our first attack of the day coming from Luke Roberts.
He is quickly joined by 4 more men;
Jonathan Clarke, William Clarke, Graeme Brown, and Jack Anderson.
Then rain takes its first victim, Matthew Hayman.
And he eventually gets into the Sky team car after another circuit
realizing he wasn't going to see the peloton again.
Ben Day also can't handle the slick roads and goes down,
but he does battle back to rejoin the peloton unlike Hayman.
Jump to the final climb, Evans attacks away.
The breakaway still hold a 50 second gap.
Cadel's move creates counters from Michael Rogers,
Simon Gerrans, Richie Porte, and Heinrich Haussler in that order.
The breakaway isn't going to give up,
even with superstar like Evans chasing them down.
And Cadel Evans couldn't make the catch in time,
clearly lack of form early in the season.
The breakaway will steal the championship this year.
Graeme Brown, the best sprinter in the group, is the new
Aussie RR Champion. 2nd William Clarke and 3rd Jonathan Clarke.
Cadel Evans comes to the line 59 seconds later to finish 6th.
Results
1
Graeme Brown
Rabobank Cycling Team
4h41'38
2
William Clarke
Champion System Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
3
Jonathan Clarke
UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
4
Luke Roberts
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
5
Jack Anderson
Endura Racing
s.t.
6
Cadel Evans
BMC Racing Team
+ 59
7
Simon Gerrans
GreenEdge Cycling Team
+ 2'04
8
Heinrich Haussler
Garmin - Barracuda
s.t.
9
Matthew Goss
GreenEdge Cycling Team
s.t.
10
Nathan Haas
Garmin - Barracuda
s.t.
Spoiler
11
Simon Clarke
GreenEdge Cycling Team
s.t.
12
Matthew Lloyd
Lampre - ISD
s.t.
13
Cameron Meyer
GreenEdge Cycling Team
s.t.
14
David Tanner
Team Saxo Bank
s.t.
15
Mark Renshaw
Rabobank Cycling Team
s.t.
16
Stuart O'Grady
GreenEdge Cycling Team
s.t.
17
Adam Hansen
Lotto Belisol Team
s.t.
18
Wesley Sulzberger
GreenEdge Cycling Team
s.t.
19
Mitchell Docker
GreenEdge Cycling Team
s.t.
20
Michael Matthews
Rabobank Cycling Team
s.t.
21
Allan Davis
GreenEdge Cycling Team
s.t.
22
Rory Sutherland
UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
23
Ben Day
UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
24
Michael Rogers
Sky Procycling
s.t.
25
Baden Cooke
GreenEdge Cycling Team
s.t.
26
Richie Porte
Sky Procycling
s.t.
27
Cameron Wurf
Champion System Pro Cycling Team
+ 2'44
28
Jonathan Cantwell
Team Saxo Bank
+ 3'14
29
Aaron Kemps
Champion System Pro Cycling Team
+ 3'38
30
Scott Law
An Post - Sean Kelly
s.t.
31
Hilton Clarke
UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
32
Timothy Roe
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
33
Dean Windsor
Endura Racing
s.t.
34
Fabio Calabria
Team Type 1 - Sanofi
s.t.
35
Joshua Prete
Whirlpool - Author
s.t.
36
Christopher Sutton
Sky Procycling
+ 4'12
37
Zakkari Dempster
Endura Racing
+ 4'35
38
Karl Menzies
UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team
+ 7'11
Interview - Cadel Evans
Q: Can't be happy with a breakaway spoiling your chance to win the National Championship.
A: Got that right, Greenedge just didn't do enough to keep the breakaway in check at the end. I tried the best I could to catch up on the final climb but just ran out of time.
. Should be great!
Can't really go wrong can it?
