The speculation finally came to an end today – Thor Hushovd is joining BMC in 2012 for three years at an undisclosed amount. To quote the BMC press release, “Exact terms of Hushovd’s contract are not being disclosed other than the deal extends through the end of the 2014 season.” We can be assured that the big Norwegian’s deal will include a BMC bike and plenty of clothes. Now, what about the other rumored transfer of the 2011 season – Philippe Gilbert? Will he be joining his buddy Thor on the American registered team?

With the addition of Thor this bumps BMC up a notch regarding the Spring Classics. In the team’s stable is George Hincapie, Alessandro Ballan, Marcus Burghardt, Manuel Quinziato and of course Taylor Phinney who just scored his first “big boy” win at the Eneco Tour’s prologue. At BMC Hushovd can get the undivided attention he needs to win the Queen of the Classics, something he seems to allude to in the BMC press release saying, “”There’s a plan put together for the riders for all the big and important races. Everyone knows what to do. That’s a good thing.”  Translation – I’m no one’s bitch and I need riders to know I’m swinging the big hammer.

To win at Paris-Roubaix, Lady Luck needs to be on your side – as well as a few teammates. With Hincapie, Burghardt and Quinziato at his side, Hushovd will have the firepower to bring back, for example, an attacking Fabian Cancellara. Yeah I’m calling it now, Cancellara will attack with 40k remaining in an attempt to win Roubaix.

For the sake of argument, what happens if Gilbert joins the BMC squad? On the surface that might seem like a conflict of interest for Hushovd as the squad would be divided between the two Classic leaders. I don’t think that will be the case. Gilbert is from the French speaking side of Belgium and as such his affinity is toward Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastone-Liege. His style of riding favors the punchy one-day Ardennes Classics. Sure Thor can perform in those situations as well, but I have to think that before the deal was done Hushovd’s agent must have had some assurances that his boy would be a protected rider in Roubaix.

You might have noticed I didn’t include Hincapie as someone who can win Paris-Roubaix. While I’ll always cheer loudly for George, he’ll remain a dark-horse favorite. He’s just not a closer when it comes to Roubaix. It might be part poor luck, split alliances on the squad or just having bad legs when it comes down to the race winning move – I just don’t know. However, he’ll always be a valuable member of a Paris-Roubaix squad and if Thor wins this Northern Belgium classic for BMC, I’m sure he’ll thank Hincapie.

Adding Hushovd to BMC requires some cash. As noted he’s a threat in the Classics and a double stage winner in this year’s Tour de France. Those skills don’t come cheap. Now, add to the mix the potential of Gilbert slipping on the red and black kit too. That’s a whole lot of Euros. To date, BMC hasn’t picked up an additional title sponsor to help with the BMC team bank account. So where’s the money coming from? No doubt it’s from uber fan and team owner Andy Rihs who’s using his own money and making it rain to attract talented riders. Now let’s face facts – while BMC makes great bikes I doubt the Swiss company is selling enough to bankroll the squad. I live in Greenville, hometown of George Hincapie, and I don’t know where I can buy a BMC bike in this town other than order one on-line from Colorado Cyclist. Could the influx of talented riders joining, or rumored to join, BMC drive the company into bankruptcy?

The excellent Red Kite Prayer blog stated that multiple sources told him Cervelo’s co-sponsorship of Garmin almost bankrupted the Canadian bike company. Savvy businessman Bob Stapleton tried to find a sponsor for hisHTC-Highroad team and he couldn’t get anyone to pull the trigger. Stapleton is a wealthy man and smart enough to know that you don’t run a team with your own money – you get investors to carry the financial burden. Here’s to hoping that BMC the bike company is selling enough impac frames and 29er mountain bikes to keep the squad on the road.

The Tour of Romandie saw the return of BMC’s Taylor Phinney. A lingering knee issue flared up several weeks ago and he was removed from the team’s roster for Paris-Roubaix. He had won the U-23 version twice, so he knows the cobbles well and it was a set back for the 20-year old. But here he was, charging down the starting ramp at the prologue, resplendent in his national champion stars and stripes skinsuit .

The course was technical to say the least. Originally it was going to be 3.5k in length, but wisdom prevailed and some of the crazier turns were removed, shortening the distance to 2.9 kilometers. With its many turns, including a U-turn, and narrow roads, the course demanded frequent gear changes and quickly accelerating back up to maximum velocity – not suited to a rider who just sits on the bike and pushes a huge gear.

In his Twitter post the reining national time trial champion summarized his strategy, “Power, U-turn, Power, hold on for dear life, sprint to finish.”

Phinney’s plan seemed to work. He set the fastest time – 3:40.69. However there was still 27 riders to blast down the street in Martigny.

Unfortunately it wasn’t a dream return for Phinney as Jonathan Castroviejo (EUS) did a great time and was faster by just 0.27 seconds.

It was still a great return to the peloton and hopefully foreshadows things to come. If he continues to recover (or maybe he is fully recovered?) he should be able to defend his national time trial championship. The Greenville course features several sharp turns and a couple of round-a-bouts to keep things interesting. Dare to dream, could he win the time trial world championships held later this year in Copenhagen? Hmmm…

Many professional cyclists ended their season with the World Championships and have returned home for a well deserved break. BMC’s Chris Butler still has a couple more European races before he can pack his bags for Greenville, South Carolina.

Butler started his European campaign back in April at the Giro del Trentino. He returned home after Trentino for a short break before the Amgen Tour of California – his first major professional stage race for BMC. From here on the 21-year old has raced in a selection of stage races and one-day classics. As the season started to draw to an end he was again selected for the American national squad for the Tour de l’Avenir.

Read full post about Chris Butler.

Murphy hitting the cobbles at Omloop PHOTO: Tim De Waele

This Sunday BMC’s John Murphy steps into the big league of professional cycling – racing Paris-Roubaix. This is not the Murphy’s first day at the rodeo and has ridden the Roubaix cobbles as a U-23 rider for the U.S. National team, finishing in 13th place in 2006. With the biggest one day race of the year just 48 hours away, Murphy answered my hard-hitting questions and finally challenges me to a fight.

Browne Eye: Where do you live in Europe?
John Murphy: I’m living in Gent, Belgium in Tyler Farrar’s upstairs apartment. Just crashing there until I find a place for myself. Still working on that.

Browne Eye: You’ve raced in Europe before as part of the American U-23 team. How big of a difference is it now?
Murphy: Bigger. Much bigger. Big team and bigger races. It’s time to grip it and rip it!

Browne Eye: What’s the day in the life of John Murphy like now?
Murphy:Wake up, drink some jpmurph coffee with breakfast (eggs), go train, lunch, nap, blah blah blah. I have a more excited day to day during my off-season.

Browne Eye: The speed on cobbles seem mind-blowing on tv, how do you prepare for that type of racing?
Murphy:We just did two days of recon and we rode most of the 27 sectors. Prepare for it? Good question. Double wrapped bars is a good start!

Browne Eye: Do you have any modifications to your bike before Roubaix?
Murphy:Double wrapped bars, some cool new pedals from Speedplay to help with mud, we have awesome SLR BMCs that are made for the cobbles, special aluminum wheels, and even some more!

Browne Eye: You’ve ridden the sections of the course. What are your impressions?
Murphy:Um, it’s gonna be a rough ride.

Browne Eye: Who is a favorite for Paris-Roubaix?
Murphy: Duh, Hincapie.

Browne Eye: Where do you think the crucial selection be made for Roubaix?
Murphy: I think after the Arenberg if you are at the front you are in a good spot.

Browne Eye: How much John Murphy coffee do you drink before a Belgian race versus a Spanish race? More, less, about the same?
Murphy: Three shots of jpmurph espresso. I haven’t raced in Spain yet this year but it would be the same.

Browne Eye: You have an Irish background. How many fights have you gotten into since moving to Europe? Follow up question: Who did you pummel the worse?
Murphy: Would you fight me? No fights yet.

George trying to get to the start

My G’ville buddies made the hop across the pond to Belgium, the home of the Classics, witnessing the Tour of Flanders first hand. And when your connections include Rich Hincapie of Hincapie Sportswear, clothing sponsor of BMC, you know they got hooked up. Randy Owens had his trigger finger on the camera and shot some cool photos from Flanders. Check them out here.

Tour of Missouri rolls out for stage 1 - will it be the last time?

RadioShack Giro update at bottom of post

Every morning for quite a while I have woken up and connected my laptop to watch streaming video of a European race. Sunday, out of habit, I started to hook up my laptop to my big screen when I realized there wasn’t anything to watch. However a Facebook update from Sean Weide, press liaison for BMC, said that he was monitoring a race. If Weide is montoring something, it has to be worth watching. Next thing you know I’m watching Eneco Ronde van het Groene Hart. Admittedly I’m not too familiar with this race but it looked like the steepest hill was a freeway overpass. But hey, beggars can’t be choosers. In the end Vacansoleil’s Jens Mouris broke away and soled in to win. That kind of victory is always cool to watch. I’m going to try that one day. Thanks for the heads up Sean and another victory for social media.

I have always been pleasantly surprised about how popularity of the Tour of Missouri. Fans packed both the start and finishing areas of all the stages. When the peloton rolled through the towns it seemed like everyone poured out to line the road and watch. Last year, by the skin of its teeth, the Tour of Missouri survived. This year, it isn’t looking so good. Unfortunately the race has become a political football between the governor and the lieutenant governor of Missouri. A grassroots effort was started with a Facebook Page supporting the race. Racers are chiming as well trying to sway the powers to be that this race is a good investment. For crying out loud, Jens Voigt came back from his awful Tour de France crash at this race and gave it big praise (WWJD – What Would Jens Do?). For that reason alone this race must continue! To show your support go to the Tour of Missouri website. The organization has listed ten things you can do to help save this race. I’m keeping my fingers crossed and hoping it doesn’t go the way of the Tour de Georgia.

More recently Milan-Sanremo was the race that caught all our attention. It was going to be the big showdown between Boonen, Petacchi, Boasson Hagen, Freire, and last year winner’s Mark Cavendish. As we all know poor Cav has had some teeth issues and hasn’t been up to form. At best he was a very outside chance for victory. What was interesting was the HTC-Columbia put their full support behind the rider from the Isle of Mann and kept off the roster a rider who has already won ten times this year – Andre “The Hulk” Greipel. On Sunday, with Cavendish coming in over six minutes back, he let his frustrations known about being excluded. Who wants to bet me that Greipel won’t be riding for the boys in yellow next season. Interesting thought – jump ship and go to The Shack. Boom – you got a guy with the instant ability to win Classics. You’re welcome. Okay, you might have to hire on some leadout guys as well.

Speaking of the Shack things got a little testy on the Twittersphere. It was reported that RCS Sport, the owners of the Giro, left RadioShack off from the list of invited teams. Johan Bruyneel responded with a Tweet and then later in his blog saying that they had in fact sent a letter to RCS stating that the Shack wouldn’t be participating and that Cyclingnews should check their facts. Well I checked around in past emails and press releases and I couldn’t find anything about the team declining to race in Italy and had instead decided to focus on the Tour of California. Understandable – American team with American sponsors. But why not release this information to the media in January so you can control it the way you want to?

Will this pissing match continue? Will RadioShack be flicked from other RCS events like the Giro di Lombardia? Perhaps the team will want to race the Giro in 2011 – will they be invited? Oh, the drama. I recommend sending a Vermont Teddy Bear with the message “Sorry we couldn’t make it to your race this year ” to RCS.  Those bears have always gotten me out of a bind.

I’m loving that at least the other American teams are racing in Italy which means my boys in red Team BMC. It looks like an on-form Cadel Evans will be there. I’m wondering if this is prep for the Tour or is he going for the overall? George will be racing the Tour of California where he could snag a stage win. Team BMC has the depth to pull off wins on both continents. I’m looking forward to May. Fortunately April is right around the corner which is cycling’s version of March Madness.  Starting next month I’m just going to leave my laptop tethered to my t.v.
UPDATE  UPDATE  UPDATE
So I did some more poking around concerning RadioShack not contesting the Giro d’ Italia. While on the RadioShack team web site there is no press release stating that the Giro wasn’t in the big picture for the Shack, however Johan Bruyneel’s Facebook page has the proposed 2010 racing calendar and glaringly obvious by omission is the Giro.

Now I know an official Facebook page probably isn’t the most efficient way to disseminate information ( you have to belong to Facebook as well as check the site and filter through the thousands of random messages). But none the less there it was – no Giro on the RadioShack race schedule. Actually way back in December Joe Lindsey brought this to our attention but hey, it was a long holiday and we forgot. However the question remains, why not just issue a press release in January confirming the race schedule posted on the Facebook page? This is where it gets complicated.

There is a bit of wheeling and dealing that goes on when you are trying to invite teams to your race. What I know about how teams get invited to the Tour of California is interesting and a blog post to follow soon. It’s not always about what team is the strongest. Anyways I’ll save that one for later…

What I’m thinking is Bruyneel was keeping his cards close to his chest and by posting the schedule on his Facebook page he playing poker with RCS, “Due to sponsorship obligations the RadioShack team is not participating in the Giro…blah, blah, blah…” This gives the Giro’s race director Angelo Zomegnan an opportunity to offer something to entice the team to Italy. Instead it looked like Zomegnan retaliated by snubbing the team and not inviting them to Tirreno-Adriatico – an RCS event. There also might be some lingering polemics when Armstrong was the ringleader of rider protests during stage 9 of  last year’s Giro.

Either way you slice it, this whole hubbub could have been avoided by just issuing a press release saying, “Suck it, we’re racing in Cali!” Those are my words, not Bruyneel’s.

Hincapie: Roubaix on the mind

With the first UCI race of the year in the books and training camp completed, BMC Racing’s George Hincapie returned home to Greenville, South Carolina for a bit of rest and relaxation before he begins his Spring campaign. However, that relaxation will be short lived as his first European race of the season is set for the end of the month in Belgium’s opening weekend of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. Hincapie will then travel to Italy for Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo, before heading back to Belgium. Next on the agenda is Ghent-Wevelgem, which has been moved to a Sunday and lengthened this year, followed by the Tour of Flanders.

Naturally, these races are all a build up to the race where victory has so far eluded him – Paris-Roubaix. With seven top ten finishes in “Hell of the North” including a second in 2005, the American is part of the rare breed of cyclists that posses a passion for the cobbled classics.

Hincapie took the time to speak to VeloNation regarding his new teammates and how they will play a role in the team, his relationship as not only a rider, but also as a team sponsor, and what new technology BMC is going to be showcasing once the season is underway. Of course we ask the question that is on everyone’s lips, “Are you going to win Paris-Roubaix?”

VeloNation: You’re back home from BMC’s training camp. How does that compare to other training camps you’ve attended? How does it compare to the other bigger teams you’ve been a part of?

George Hincapie: As far as that is concerned the team, the management and the organization is right on par with any other team I’ve been on. There is all the same sort of things that go on like all the other camps I have been to. We talk about equipment, schedules, and team technology. We were busy all day from core [workouts] in the morning, to training in the mid-morning through the afternoon and then meetings before dinner. I really enjoyed meeting all the new guys. The level of the team is going to be a much higher than most people expected.

Complete interview at VeloNation.com

George set the tempo all weekend CREDIT: Chris Anderson

This past weekend the 2010 Hincapie Development squad got together for the first time. Excitement had been building for the riders the week before and the U23 riders were chomping at the bit to throw a leg over the new Shimano Dura-Ace, Ritchey and Thomson equipped BMC Pro Machine. This was going to be my first time meeting the riders as a mentor/coach for the team. The Hincapie’s have been spending their time and resources on developing future American talents and it was starting to come to fruition. Craig Lewis, now a member f the HTC-Columbia squad, got his start on a team sponsored by Hincapie Sportswear. Chris Butler, a member of the Hincapie Devo team last year who made the jump to BMC for 2010, is heading off to the team training camp in California at the end of the month. Strad Helms is another rider from the Hincapie Development class of ’09 that made the jump to the big leagues joining Team Type 1 for 2010. With that kind of track record this year’s crop of U23 riders should be showing results.

Friday night was the first official team meeting. And like any professional organization there were certain rules and regulations that are expected of the riders. As I sat there I thought how similar this was to other pro team training camps I’d attended. Just before forms were filled out and swag bags passed out Steve Baker, Hincapie team liaison/mentor, reminded the riders how important this opportunity was to them. He also relayed the fact how important it was to the team that no one drops out of a race unless it’s an injury or mechanical failure. “George doesn’t quit a race.” Baker said. I thought about that and I couldn’t think of an instance when George Hincapie headed to the broom wagon because he’s been dropped or when the race wasn’t going his way. The times he hasn’t finished a race was when he had crashed out and was physically unable to cross the finish line. Crossing the finish line, or completing what you say you are going to do, is an important trait for the Hincapies whether in a race or in the business world. Hopefully the riders on the team will pick up on this type of work ethic and transfer it to their daily lives.

Sponsor goodies courtesy of Oakley, Giro & Hincapie Sportswear

Saturday was a team training day and George met the squad to lead the ride. This Tuesday he packs his bags and leaves for the Tour Down Under, so he still needed to log training miles. The temperature in the morning was in the 20s. Thick tights, insulated jackets, shoe covers and full finger gloves were the bare essentials for the day. Our group had swelled to over 20 riders which included almost the entire Hincapie Devo team, as well as also mentor riders and supporters. We rolled down the road, riding two abreast, George at the front keeping a steady tempo. I have ridden with pros before and I am always in awe of how easily they flick over the pedals as if the cranks were just an extension of their legs. George is no exception and kept the pace constant and unwavering. Beyond the smooth nature of Hincapie’s pedaling I also noticed new BMC rider Chris Butler’s style. Butler’s pedaling is just as fluid, however his body is more compact than George – the obvious morphology of a climber with the results to back it up. Butler is a student at Furman University in Greenville and had planned on missing part of the upcoming BMC camp. That has changed and he is going to attend the full training camp, which means recon rides of key Tour of California stages. The new devo riders showed the potential that caught the eye of Hincapie Sportswear and showed a certain amount of souplesse as we ticked over the miles. None of the riders had hunched shoulders and sloppy pedaling technique even after several hours in the saddle. When it was all said and done my Garmin 705 laid out the facts: we’d ridden for three and a half hours, 60 miles total and with an elevation gain of 5,800 feet (twice over Paris Mountain). Not too bad. I didn’t hear any whining or complaining from any of the riders, even when we made that left hand turn to climb over Paris Mountain for the second time.

The following day was a shorter ride with George again riding point. While the previous day’s ride was well over 20 riders, Sunday’s was down to the devo riders, mentors and George. We zig-zaged across the Upstate with seemingly no rhyme or reason. George apparently knew where we were going as he confidently and without hesitation pointed which way to turn. He must have the innate gps-like ability of a homing pigeon as I had no idea where we were. I have written this before and I’ll say it again; I don’t know why most pros don’t live in this area. The conditions are fantastic. Sure we’re in the middle of an unusual cold snap, but when dressed for the conditions, it isn’t that much of a hardship. And I can count on one hand how many cars we encountered once we were out of town.

This is what it looks like to follow George up Paris Mountain

After about an hour and 40 minutes George and Chris Butler turned right, heading to the six-mile climb of Caesar’s Head. For those two it was another long day in the saddle, but for us it was time to head for home. With riders coming from all over the southeast, a few riders were facing several hours drive back home. Back at the starting point it was a little over two hours, but with some heavy legs from the previous day, that was enough. It’s only January and a lot of racing is still in front of them.

It was a great weekend of riding. We rode, swapped stories and consumed massive amounts of well deserved calories together. Some riders knew each other and the staff, but for me it was a great opportunity to get acquainted with the riders and be a part of something that these guys will always remember.

Hincapie Sportswear Development Roster
Stephen Colavito
Justin Lowe
Parker Kyzer
Tyler Karnes
Mike Stone
Blair (Edison)Turner
Logan Haskew
Matt Lipscomb
Aubrey Moore

Sponsors
BMC
Hincapie Sportswear
Shimano
Oakley
Giro
Thomson
Ritchey
FinishLine

Hincapie photo by Chris Anderson

National champion kit

One of the advantages of riding with the Hincapie Sportswear staff is that I’ve gotten to see or hear the inside scoop on what’s going on with the BMC team. When I rolled into the office today for a ride, UPS had just dropped off a huge shipment of the first batch of team issue BMC clothes. The staff was quickly separating what the team needed for the upcoming Tour Down Under and what they need for the California training camp later this month. While they allowed me to take a look at the new kit I had to take a blood oath not to post pictures or even discuss what colors they used. I’ll say that the kit looks clean and will standout from the rest of the peloton.

I spoke to Rich Hincapie about the production details of the clothes Hincapie Sportswear had to produce for the BMC team. Add to the fact that the team has two current American national champions, a world champion, as well as former national champions on the team there needs to be elements beyond a standard jersey design. The UCI has certain standards for how a world champion stripes, as well as how a national champion jersey, is to look. After the technical details of how wide the stripes need to be or exactly what shade certain colors needs to be, the rider gets to weigh in on the design. This takes a lot of emails back and forth with the rider and many late nights at the office. After seeing the kit myself and witnessing the work first hand, I’m confident that the tifosi will approve.

Quick Facts:

• The BMC team has 23 pro and three U23 riders.
• Each rider will get approximately 60 pieces of cycling clothing throughout the year. Clothing is replaced when riders crash, lose them or wear out.
• Casual clothing will include Hincapie denim jeans, track suits and collared shirts. If you want to hear a fun story ask Rich what he had to do to the track jackets before they were sent to the team.
• The total amount of clothing pieces sent to the team are in the thousands (in addition to the basic kit of shorts and jersey there are many different types of gloves, various skinsuit types, various jackets and shoe covers to name just a few pieces).
• The retail cost for the amount of clothing for the team is between $300,000 to $400,000.

There's a lot of clothes that need to be checked in

BMC Pro Machine full Campy, Easton parts, Speedplay pedals

It is officially the beginning of the pre-season. Teams are coming together around the globe for training camps. There have been some early training camps, but those are mostly for the sake of the press and sponsors. The camps from here on out are getting a little more serious. Today I had an early evening meeting with Hincapie Sportsware. I will be one of the mentor/coaches of the U-23 Hincapie Development squad and at the end of the week the U-23 guys are coming to Greenville for a mini version of a training camp. We’ll be handing out team products, explaining goals and aspirations of the team and having a good time for the few days that we are together. I am very much looking forward to working with the riders. It’s going to be a great year of racing and riding from a personal standpoint. I’m hoping these young pups will whip me back into shape.

As I was waiting for the meeting, the Hincapie art department was doing a photoshoot with George in the new national champion kit along with his new bike. Over the din of the cranked to maximum spaceheater I think someone said his BMC Team Machine was 15.1 pounds. Soon George will be heading to his training camp in California and other local teams will be having theirs. Team Type 1′s camp is in Georgia next month and I’ll drop by and see the guys. Another pro team that I have a weakness for is the Kenda p/b Geargrinder team. Their founder Chad Thompson is a can-do guy and has put his blood, sweat and tears into making that program work. An example of his Herculean effort is bringing Frankie Andreu onto the staff. Andreu is a stand-up guy and any organization should be proud to have him working for them. Their camp is also next month in Georgia so that gives me another reason to visit. It’s only January and my travel calendar is starting to fill up.