Development teams are being raided for their talent by the big teams
In July, we announced that the BMC Development Team would be closing at the end of the year. It was a sad day. Almost all the teams I’ve worked with as a manager have had a development team of sorts. It’s always been a privilege and a source of pride to turn out riders who find their way in the pro ranks.
When I started on the BMC project with Andy Rihs in 2010 we had to recruit from right across the peloton to build our roster. At one end we had riders capable of winning the Tour, like Cadel Evans, who was a 10-year pro at the time. But we also had to dip into the existing development programmes to select the riders that we needed. Taylor Phinney’s arrival on the team in 2011 was an example of that.
This story is from the October 2017 edition of Procycling.
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This story is from the October 2017 edition of Procycling.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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