BMC in disarray?

[Lanark]

It would be a real shame if Sagan went to BMC, what a sad team that is.

 

[Yingge]

I think Evans is the only one of the big three to be coming off contract. .........snip....

Evans is contracted to BMC until the end of the 2014 season. I would expect that he will then retire.

Gilbert is also contracted to BMC until the end of the 2014 season, as is Hushovd.

 

[movingtarget]

Evans is contracted to BMC until the end of the 2014 season. I would expect that he will then retire.

Gilbert is also contracted to BMC until the end of the 2014 season, as is Hushovd.

The three of them will be gone for different reasons. Don't think Cadel will do a Chris Horner and extend his career.

 

[theyoungest]

GVA is the only rider who has improved on BMC. However they decided to drown him in a crowd of fading classics stars, and he's not likely to win a big race himself either. He's remarkably allround though.

Tejay and Phinney aren't bad either, but yeah... who has seen them so far this year?

 

[El Pistolero]

GVA is the only rider who has improved on BMC. However they decided to drown him in a crowd of fading classics stars, and he's not likely to win a big race himself either. He's remarkably allround though.

Tejay and Phinney aren't bad either, but yeah... who has seen them so far this year?

Evans also improved at BMC. Pinotti ain't doing bad either considering his age.

Not really a surprise Hushovd is over the top though, don't think you can blame a team for that

Cummings also won that Vuelta stage last year.

 

[TANK91]

Would you guys say BMC have wasted money on their big names, I mean how bad as Hushovd been. P.Gilbert has not been much better.

 

[Potomac]

It would be a real shame if Sagan went to BMC, what a sad team that is.

At this moment BMC is in 7th place in the World Tour rankings, without Sagan.

Canondale is in 8th place, with Sagan.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Not a single winner left in this team is it?

Gilbert - not good enough, once again
Hushovd - Old
Evans - Oldish, but let us see what he can do in the giro, top 3, or atleast top 5 perhpas?
Avermaet - Not a winner in the first place
van Garderen - not a winner either (top 5 as his goal in the tour this year?)
Phinney - Not quite good enough yet

 

[Netserk]

When comparing results vs. cost, BMC is by far the worst team.

 

[staubsauger]

I think we should move this discussion to the clinic, shouldn't we? It seems like BMC lacks a professional preperation system at all. Otherwise not every top rider would drop that significant in performance after moving to Bmc. Gilbert's decrease there is a pure shame, altough he obviously wouldn't have been that bad in the cobbled classics without his cold from Paris - Nice.

 

[Afrank]

Would you guys say BMC have wasted money on their big names, I mean how bad as Hushovd been. P.Gilbert has not been much better.

Yes, that seems to be be their whole strategy for success. Buy the really big name riders for a ton of money and hope they're just as dominating on BMC as they were in the past. Clearly it is not working for them, they really need to adopt a new approach.

 

[movingtarget]

Yes, that seems to be be their whole strategy for success. Buy the really big name riders for a ton of money and hope they're just as dominating on BMC as they were in the past. Clearly it is not working for them, they really need to adopt a new approach.

Some riders like Evans, thrive on the change of teams while others just don't perform. With Hushovd it has been complicated with his illness. Even though the team did a great job for Evans in the Tour in 2011, two years later I think they needed to make changes after a lean 2012 season results wise. Getting rid of Santambrogio obviously backfired. The changes will surely come at the end of this season.

 

[karlboss]

Not the greatest tour, where have they gone wrong?

Obviously Evans and Teejay are not at their best, have they tried for too long before switching to stage wins?Does anyone even have the form to win stages?

Moving forward what do they do? Honestly the domestiques look as good as any other team. In both the classics and Giro and Tour the domestiques have kept the leaders near the front when they need to be.
The leaders are then off form(past it) and there seems to be an absence of superdomestiques. They did best on the cobbles with Van Avermaet, but Van Avermaet should be playing that superdomestique role to Hushovd and Ballan. At Fleche Wallone, Gilbert was left on his own on the Mur wayyyy too early.
I have a feeling the wages for this team are about to go up, as noone will want to ride for them.

 

[dgodave]

Disarray? No.

Not winning? Yes.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Disarray? No.

Not winning? Yes.

I think they are in disarray. Gilbert's mutterings about TJVG & Evans. Then the team's sudden change of plans. All points to the fact that they are unable to strategise at all and are grasping at straws

 

[TheBean]

Evans podiumed at the Giro. Riding the double is difficult for any rider, especially when the Tour field includes a focussed Froome, Contador, Quintana, and many others.

Van Garderen peaked well for the ToC and his result shows that. A double peak is difficult for a GC rider.

I think their failure to achieve Tour success this year stems from trying ro do too much against a very strong field.

The teams that have been doing well in the Tour this year have had a singular focus and - as always - a bit of good luck.

 

[dgodave]

I think they are in disarray. Gilbert's mutterings about TJVG & Evans. Then the team's sudden change of plans. All points to the fact that they are unable to strategise at all and are grasping at straws

When your big guns cant perform, you change plans. But disarray? I'm sure the team bus is still tidy.

 

[auscyclefan94]

I think there is a certain amount of disarray within the team and that is coming from a BMC fan like myself. To be honest, with what happened to Evans last year and having almost 6 months off the bike and nearly 9 months without competition, it was always going to be difficult for him to come back this year to his normal level. His performance in the Giro was quite impressive considering the circumstances beforehand.

Van Garderen's performance is odd but I think it is clear that he peaked too soon at the ATOC. I still don't rate him that highly tbh and I doubt he would have done much against this field on this course. It is going to be hard for him to try to peak for an important race for him, being the Tour of California and then want to do well at the Tour. I think he may have to rethink the planning of those two races in the future and what he wants to target.

Gilbert is the real disappointment and does not really have many excuses. Yes, he has been injured but his performances have still been woeful. It is a bit rich for him to expect team support on some of these stages when a) The Tour was always for BMC to be behind Evans not Gilbert and b) Gilbert has simply not performed during the year to even deserve a spot on the team let alone be a leader at the Tour. Hushovd should have been in the Tour squad, even if his performances have not been that great either.

What I do not understand is why BMC is not resigning two riders who have shown a lot of promise this year, Frank and Santaromita. Surely money would not be the issue so why would two talented riders be given the chop? BMC needs a big shake up and I hope they can turn things around for the rest of the season.

 

[Boeing]

No one wants to ride with cuddles simple.

 

[IndianCyclist]

When your big guns cant perform, you change plans. But disarray? I'm sure the team bus is still tidy.

Look at the way Movistar responded and then BMC. For change of plans they needed to change them long back just after Ax3. Gilbert then would have got some more chances for a stage win. Now we have a situation where there are only mountain stages and too many climbers wanting glory. What is TJVG doing a good TT in stage 17?
It was very evident from Evans performances that he was not going to be competitive after a tiring Giro. TJVG performance in TDS was not good. Frank's was good but they did not select him.

 

[auscyclefan94]

No one wants to ride with cuddles simple.

That simply is not the problem though at BMC. It was at Lotto, excluding Horner, but I don't think it is now. Gilbert is just ****ed off because he is self-centred more than any procyclist. The atmosphere in a team is always pretty **** when you perform well below expectation.

 

[movingtarget]

That simply is not the problem though at BMC. It was at Lotto, excluding Horner, but I don't think it is now. Gilbert is just ****ed off because he is self-centred more than any procyclist. The atmosphere in a team is always pretty **** when you perform well below expectation.

Gilbert has contributed nothing in the Tour. He has not got the form to win anyway and he has been getting dropped early on most stages. The team rode well in the Ardennes but he could not finish off the races. He must be getting big money to re-sign for two years because I thought he would surely change teams. They were a happy team at the 2011 Tour and even at this year's Giro. Evans will never be like Froome or Contador within the team but it is garbage that no one wants to ride with him. The Giro was a good result for him but it was a mistake to put him in the Tour. He said himself that he was really tired after the race and he would have been better off riding the Vuelta and getting ready for the worlds on a course which suits him. Like you said, lack of results makes teams edgy

 

[IndianCyclist]

Gilbert has contributed nothing in the Tour. He has not got the form to win anyway and he has been getting dropped early on most stages. The team rode well in the Ardennes but he could not finish off the races. He must be getting big money to re-sign for two years because I thought he would surely change teams. They were a happy team at the 2011 Tour and even at this year's Giro. Evans will never be like Froome or Contador within the team but it is garbage that no one wants to ride with him. The Giro was a good result for him but it was a mistake to put him in the Tour. He said himself that he was really tired after the race and he would have been better off riding the Vuelta and getting ready for the worlds on a course which suits him. Like you said, lack of results makes teams edgy

But this is more of the team management's fault than the riders. Giving Gilbert a freer role and making TJVG the sole leader with Evans doing the Vuelta would be pretty good strategy. Now all this has given the other riders is some excuses to blame it all on Evans because they were working for him and not given their chances. My sympathies are with Evans.

 

[movingtarget]

But this is more of the team management's fault than the riders. Giving Gilbert a freer role and making TJVG the sole leader with Evans doing the Vuelta would be pretty good strategy. Now all this has given the other riders is some excuses to blame it all on Evans because they were working for him and not given their chances. My sympathies are with Evans.

I don't think that changing the roles would have made a difference for Tejay and Gilbert. When they have tried something it still failed. Tejay's best stage was the second TT and Gilbert was eighth on the Gap stage. No one in the BMC has winning form at the Tour and their best chance was always going to be with Evans and it did not work so far. There seems to be no in between with Evans. People either like him or hate him if the fans are anything to go by.

 

[loge1884]

Andy Rihs (+75), owner of BMC, died last night ... R.I.P.

Wonder what will happen with BMC, as this was a quite personal hobby of Andy (as was the former Phonak team) ....