Evans and Hincapie Re-Up With BMC Racing Team, Evans to Race in Colorado
8/1/11 - Tour de France champion Cadel Evans and three-time U.S. national road champion George Hincapie will stay on with the BMC Racing Team in 2012, President/General Manager Jim Ochowicz announced Monday.
One week after winning his first Tour title, Evans has extended his contract through the 2014 season. Hincapie has extended for the 2012 season, Ochowicz said, after tying the Tour's participation record with 16 appearances. "Having these two return to the BMC Racing Team next year allows for our continued growth by having our two captains stay on board to provide leadership and mentoring to others in our organization," Ochowicz said. "In George's case, we need him to help the young guys like Taylor Phinney and Greg Van Avermaet keep developing. For everyone else, he creates leadership in the classics and at the Tour de France." Future announcements regarding BMC Racing Team rider extensions and acquisitions will be announced at the appropriate time, Ochowicz said.
After joining the BMC Racing Team as the reigning world road champion in 2010, Evans helped the squad earn its first berths in the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia the same season. This year, he is No. 1 on the UCI WorldTour rankings while leading the BMC Racing Team to No. 2 in the team standings. "I feel that as a team, we have grown successfully together," Evans said. "It's been an enjoyable and satisfying journey so far. From the start, I have always felt the BMC Racing Team has had a lot of confidence in me as a member and often as a leader of the team. So a longer term contract echoes this. I look forward to the years ahead. We will keep working and progressing toward the future."
A record nine times Hincapie has been a teammate of the winner of the Tour de France. In May, he came within a tire width of winning his fourth U.S. national road title. The 2012 season will be his 19th after turning professional in 1994. "I'm really excited to continue the success of the team," Hincapie said. "My two years with the BMC Racing Team has been even better than my expectations. Being able to help Cadel win the Tour de France was a career highlight for me. To be able to continue on for another year offers me more opportunities to extend the goodwill of the team."
Cadel Evans To Race In Colorado
Tour de France winner Cadel Evans will close out his season with one more criterium in Europe, followed by an appearance with the BMC Racing Team in the inaugural edition of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado.
Evans will compete in a post-Tour criterium Tuesday in Amsterdam after appearances in criteriums in Belgium and Germany last week. His final race of the year will be the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, which runs Aug. 22-28 and includes 833 kilometers of racing through the Rocky Mountains. "I'm looking forward to competing in the U.S. in one more stage race before I close out what has been a dream season," Evans said. "I've heard good things about the race in Colorado and I know it won't be easy. But I'm up for one more challenge." Evans last raced in the United States in the 2006 edition of the Amgen Tour of California, finishing seventh overall.
In addition to winning the Tour de France, Tirreno-Adriatico and the Tour de Romandie this year, Evans was also runner-up at the Critérium du Dauphiné and top 10 in the Volta a Catalunya. He is the No. 1 ranked rider on the UCI's WorldTour rankings. "With the worlds in Copenhagen this year being more for sprinters, Cadel wasn't expecting to go to the worlds," BMC Racing Team Directeur Sportif John Lelangue said. "Colorado has nice mountains, we are an American team, and it's a good opportunity for him to race in the U.S. He couldn't race in California in May due to his pre-Tour de France training camps."
