The pressure of being the sole team leader and being the rider charged with clocking up most of the big results was a significant factor in deciding not to go to Quick Step, according to Philippe Gilbert, who has explained what attracted him instead to the BMC Racing Team.
The American squad announced last week that Gilbert had agreed a three year deal, and would be joining Thor Hushovd and Tour de France champion Cadel Evans on the team in 2012. He had previously been in negotiations with that squad plus Quick Step; in fact, Gilbert states that he had enquiries from practically every ProTeam, apart from Lampre and Euskaltel.
“Quick Step is an international team which offered me a lot of responsibility and the status as number one. It was exhilarating, [but] scary too,” he told Le Soir, “because I will not succeed every year with a season like 2011. Imagine if I won nothing, or little, in 2012? With a team that puts everything on you, that’s something impossible to imagine, especially for team members who are working [to set him up], not to mention the Belgian press.
“It happened in 2007, with FDJeux - I was nowhere, I had no success, so I know what we are talking about when the legs do not turn, when the opportunity is not there.”
With other big guns on the BMC Racing Team, he explained that the situation would be different. The team would not depend on him alone, and if he had any problems, the team would not suffer as much. “I know it is better to be a rider among others in a team of stars, rather than ride in a formation where the full weight of responsibility would have rested on my shoulders.”
However Gilbert said that he was also drawn to the BMC Racing Team by its attitude. The squad expanded over a year and a half ago when then-world champion Cadel Evans moved across to it; he had been under pressure while with Silence Lotto, and said that he never felt fully supported.
Gilbert said that he has noticed how Evans has changed since moving to the squad, and the decision of his friend and training partner Thor Hushovd to also move there helped cement his decision.
But the general approach of the team to him was something he said also played a part in his decision. “Since the negotiations began, everything was professional. I was treated like a néo pro, not as a world number one,” he said. “The BMC officials speak with you as with any rider, without putting you on a pedestal. This approach immediately appealed to me. “
Gilbert will remain with his current Omega Pharma – Lotto squad until the end of the season. His next big appointment is the GP Ouest France in Plouay; if he can continue to keep riding well, he is likely to move from second to first in the UCI’s world rankings. He is currently six points behind Evans, who is expected to wind his season down after the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.