25 October, 2017, Santa Rosa, California (USA)
The 2017 season officially wrapped up yesterday with the final stage of the Tour of Guangxi and I’m proud to say that 2017 has been one of the most successful seasons in BMC Racing Team’s history. We are finishing the season with 48 wins, the highest number ever recorded by our team and by a long way too. Of the 48 wins, 22 were at UCI WorldTour races and six were national titles. Not only did we win a lot of races, but more than half were at the highest level possible which is a testament to our riders and the entire organization. We are also very excited to see Greg Van Avermaet win the UCI WorldTour Individual Ranking after what has been an incredible year for Greg. This is a great achievement and recognition of Greg’s success in 2017, as is BMC Racing Team’s third place overall in the UCI WorldTour Team Ranking.
As a team, we are proud of all 48 of our wins. This season was in some ways a year of firsts for many of our riders. Seeing Greg ride into the velodrome in Roubaix, after an already-stellar spring classics season, and deliver his and BMC Racing Team’s first Monument win was truly impressive. Miles Scotson won the Australian Road Race Championship in his first race with BMC Racing Team, Richie Porte won the Santos Tour Down Under for the first time, Ben Hermans won his first stage race at the Tour of Oman, Silvan Dillier and Tejay van Garderen experienced their first individual Grand Tour stage win, and Dylan Teuns claimed his first professional win at the VOO Tour de Wallonie and then went on to win another seven more races, including the overall title at the Tour of Poland, all in a space of two months. Of course, these are just a handful of examples of our victories throughout the season and every single rider, whether they were the one on the top step of the podium or the rider pulling at the front of the peloton to do their part, deserves to be congratulated for their contribution to the 2017 season.
In 2017, we welcomed TAG Heuer, ASSOS of Switzerland, and Vittoria to our already strong portfolio of partners. It is thanks to our title sponsor BMC Switzerland and all of our partners that we are able to be at the start line day in, day out and win races. The support from our partners is invaluable so I can’t do anything more than say a big thank you to our network of partners for their support throughout the season. We look forward to working with our existing and new partners in 2018 and representing them in the best possible way.
Looking to 2018
In 2018, we will reduce our rider roster from 29 riders to 24 riders which is aligned with our race calendar and the reduced number of riders per team at certain races next year. We are saying goodbye to a number of riders who are moving on or retiring, many of whom have been with BMC Racing Team for quite a few years. I want to say thank you to these riders and wish them all the best in the coming years. We are excited to welcome four new riders to the team: Alberto Bettiol (ITA), Patrick Bevin (NZ), Simon Gerrans (AUS) and Jürgen Roelandts (BEL). All four of these riders bring a wealth of experience and a diverse skill set to the team, so I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do in the BMC Racing Team kit. We have a strong team and we will continue to work hard to achieve our collective goals in 2018.
Finally, thank you to all of our fans for their support throughout the year. Whether it’s cheering the riders on at the roadside or from home around the world, we wouldn’t be where we are without our fan base.
Here’s to continuing our success in 2018!
Jim Ochowicz
General Manager, BMC Racing Team
BMC Racing Team 2018 Rider Roster
Alberto BETTIOL (ITA)
Patrick BEVIN (NZ)
Tom BOHLI (SUI)
Brent BOOKWALTER (USA)
Damiano CARUSO (ITA)
Rohan DENNIS (AUS)
Alessandro DE MARCHI (ITA)
Jempy DRUCKER (LUX)
Kilian FRANKINY (SUI)
Simon GERRANS (AUS)
Stefan KÜNG (SUI)
Richie PORTE (AUS)
Nicolas ROCHE (IRL)
Jürgen ROELANDTS (BEL)
Joey ROSSKOPF (USA)
Michael SCHÄR (SUI)
Miles SCOTSON (AUS)
Dylan TEUNS (BEL)
Greg VAN AVERMAET (BEL)
Tejay VAN GARDEREN (USA)
Nathan VAN HOOYDONCK (BEL)
Francisco VENTOSO (ESP)
Loïc VLIEGEN (BEL)
Danilo WYSS (SUI)
