Jürgen Roelandts, 32, is the latest addition to BMC Racing Team’s 2018 roster, General Manager Jim Ochowicz today announced.
The former Belgian National Road Race champion brings a wealth of experience, particularly in the Spring Classics, to the American team.
“Jürgen Roelandts has years of experience racing the Classics and he has excelled at that over the last ten years. Jurgen has a great skill set and has had podium finishes in many of the biggest one-day races in the calendar,” Ochowicz explained.
“Jürgen is coming to us to be one of our primary Classics riders to work alongside Greg Van Avermaet and help Greg and the team continue our success at these races. Wherever Greg is, you can expect to see Jurgen at his side, especially in the Belgian races where he knows the roads so well. We are very excited to have a rider with Jurgen’s experience join us next year.”
2018 will be Roelandts’ eleventh year at the WorldTour level, during which time he won the Belgian Road Race Championships and stood on the podium at multiple Classics, including Milan-San Remo, Ronde van Vlaanderen and E3 Harelbeke.
Roelandts is relishing the chance for a change.
“First of alI, I want to thank my former team for the nice 10 years I had with them and for the chances I got. But, I had the feeling I was looking for something new. I was already interested in BMC Racing Team because I want to keep improving my time trial skills and the focus BMC Racing Team has on the spring Classics was really appealing. The team operates on the highest level in both disciplines so I was really pleased when they showed interest,” Roelantds said.
“In the past I’ve shown that I’m a rider who can adapt quickly and handle different types of parcours. It will be the first time in my career that I will ride for a different team, so I hope I can integrate well and contribute to the successes of the team. A big objective for me every year is the Spring Classics so I want to help the team achieve their goals there and support Greg Van Avermaet, who has shown he can win these races. If I have the chance to go for a win myself, it would be a dream and career goal. I also like to do team time trials so I hope I can perform well in this discipline too.”
Roelantds is the second rider to join BMC Racing Team in 2018, following the signing of Alberto Bettiol.
