BMC Racing Team Issues

[Clemson Cycling]

What is wrong with this team? They have signed some world class riders and have a massive budget. They did pull out the Tour de France last year in a great show and Cadel rode a perfect race. However, their tactics seem to be questionable and their results suck. Hushovd and Gilbert came on this year and they have zero wins between them. Phinney has not really gone anywhere after coming into the sport. Tejay has had some impressive results but has not grown a ton since his Columbia days (he did finish 3rd in the Dauphine at the age of 21). They are not even close to Sky this year and it shows. I cannot figure out if their coaching or training sucks but something is wrong with this team.

 

[Gregory]

All good questions, but there is already a thread on this topic, called BMC in disarray:
http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=16665&page=129

It displays the prophetic powers of our poster, thehog

 

[kurtinsc]

What is wrong with this team? They have signed some world class riders and have a massive budget. They did pull out the Tour de France last year in a great show and Cadel rode a perfect race. However, their tactics seem to be questionable and their results suck. Hushovd and Gilbert came on this year and they have zero wins between them. Phinney has not really gone anywhere after coming into the sport. Tejay has had some impressive results but has not grown a ton since his Columbia days (he did finish 3rd in the Dauphine at the age of 21). They are not even close to Sky this year and it shows. I cannot figure out if their coaching or training sucks but something is wrong with this team.

I honestly thought they had very good tactics today.

The problem was simply that Evans didn't have the legs. They hd Moinard up the road. Then TJVG attacked and got a gap. Then Evans attacked and joined him and Moinard dropped back. Tejay was pumping along and at the very least seemed capable of maintaining the gap they had gotten... probably to the top of the climb. Then they could have gained ground on the descent as Sky wasn't that strong in that area.

The tactic wasn't bad. The problem was that Evans couldn't hold Tejay's wheel. A "normal" Evans could do that... he just didn't have the legs.

 

[Armanius]

Agreed. The BMC tactic was sound today. Evans was not.

As far as the BMC squad, it seems like they are not built to protect Evans in the mountains. It was pretty much the same last year, where Evans had to fend for himself in the mountains. This year, they have TJ. But until today, TJ didn't do much to help Evans in the closing moments of all the stages.