Cadel Evans versus Teejay Van Garderen. This is the leadership picture and in-fight that is currently going on at BMC Racing. One possibly past his best versus the up-and-coming young talent.
I will attempt to give you a clearer picture of what we can expect from BMC Racing in 2014.
Let’s start with Cadel Evans. After a long career, the 36-year-old hasn’t had very much to cheer about in 2013.
Apart from his third place finish and his breakaway stage win at the Tour Of Alberta, he hasn’t had anything to cheer about actually.
When Evans was told he was racing the Giro this year, it looked as if the succession plan for Van Garderen at BMC Racing was well under way.
But Cadel ended up finishing third at the Giro and this gave him another shot at the big one, also known as the Tour de France.
However he then flopped at the tour finishing in a low position of 39th, his worst ever at the tour.
You have to wonder exactly how much the Giro took out of Evans, but at the same time, he did climb with the Grupetto (the sprinters group) for a lot of the Tour.
As a climber who has previously won the Tour de France, you would think would be able to do more than that.
However he does have the experience of a Tour de France victory and World Championships victory, so don’t put it past Evans to lead BMC again next year.
The other thing we have seen this week is Chris Horner, age 41, turning back the clock and holding off favourite Vincenzo Nibali to win the Vuelta a Espana.
This proves that if Evans still feels he has the legs he could win a Grand Tour.
Now let’s look at van Garderen – who has for the past two years had a general rise up cycling’s world rankings.
He finished ahead of Evans in the 2012 Tour de France, finishing fifth and this year has won a few races, culminating in the Tour Of California.
There is no doubt that van Garderen is on the rise as a professional cyclist.
I think BMC will look to blood van Garderen next season in the Tour de France, but they wont completely disregard Cadel, as he would have an ideal preparation for the Giro and the Vuelta.
This way BMC have a shot at all three Grand Tours and Cadel will get more rest time in between each major race.
The other key thing that would make this decision process is the fact that the Giro and Vuelta, while not necessarily easier races, don’t feature the likes of Alberto Contador or Chris Froome, which an older Evans can’t go up against as well as he used to.
So why not get Van Garderen into the Tour de France leadership role in 2014, and let Evans have a shot at winning two Grand Tours, the two he has never won before?
Either way, we will find out when the Giro squads are named because I can assure you that if Evans is at the 2014 Giro, there is no way he will be at the Tour de France.
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