With the recent announcement that current world champion Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervélo) would be joining the BMC Racing Team, the American team yesterday also made public the signing of Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto). Gilbert is currently the second-best ranked rider in the world behind Tour de France champion and BMC captain Cadel Evans.
Although some are wondering if the BMC Racing Team will have too many chiefs, Hushovd has made it clear that he welcomes Gilbert’s arrival. “I am very pleased that BMC gives us the ability to ride on the same team," he told Feltet.dk. "He's a great strong rider with a unique core competence that will really strengthen the BMC team."
Although the two riders have never competed in the same team before, they are known to be good friends and are often seen training together. Hushovd confirmed this. “Given that we both live in Monaco, we continue to train together. This has worked very well until now and there is no doubt that pushing each other has buoyed us both,” he said.
Evans this week also welcomed Gilbert to the team, offering his support to the Belgian during next year’s Classics season. This year Hushovd focused on the Milan-Sanremo, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, while Gilbert dominated all the Ardennes Classics. Onlookers have noted it will be interesting to see how the dynamic will affect their racing schedules next season.
There were concerns last year when Hushovd joined the Garmin-Cervélo squad for the 2011 season alongside sprinters Tyler Farrar and Heinrich Haussler, but the world champion proved he is willing to work alongside co-leaders for the good of the team. He won two stages during the Tour de France but was also seen leading out Farrar on other stages - particularly to victory on stage three.
He stresses that cooperation will be essential. “"Now we have to plan our seasons even better, where we safely ride any of the same races,” Hushovd said of him and Gilbert. “We are a very exciting duo in most of the races and I see it only as an advantage. Competitors will come to feel our collective strength, which is something I really look forward to.”
On joining BMC, the Norwegian stated that winning Paris-Roubaix is still his biggest goal. “The BMC Racing Team has good riders who can support me to win, and I can help others on the team to win.” Gilbert has never targeted that cobbled Classic before, but has said he will do so in a couple of years. In the short term at least, there doesn’t appear to be an overlap in that event.