Tour of Poland, he we come
I can’t find the precise quote but there was a French general from World War I who said something like “my northern front is collapsing, the enemy has breached the eastern lines and my supply lines are being cut off. Excellent, I attack“. Now this sounds foolish in battle but it can work in less harmful scenarios. Faced with plenty of criticism, it looks like Team BMC Racing could be ready to join the Pro Tour.
BMC might not have had the best start to the season. They didn’t win a race until Cadel Evans won the Flèche Walloone and they’ve been in the headlines too often for the wrong reasons, with Alessandro Ballan and Mauro Santambrogio getting caught up in a police anti-doping investigation, plus Thomas Frei testing positive.
But this isn’t deterring the richest man in cycling and so the team could click up a gear for 2011. Indeed, faced with criticism all round, embracing the UCI is a handy political move.
This is more than an administrative or political change, the team will probably need to recruit more riders. The Swiss press are already talking of Cavendish. But I suspect the team will need several signings, more depth for the Grand Tours but also some younger talent to replace the ageing stars, eg Hincapie.
The team will need to pick healthy riders with spotless biopassports and, judging from the past, involve Cadel Evans in the decisions since the Australian is always keen to surround himself with the right riders.