Ochowicz: “He has valuable experience on multiple levels from his years in the races”

Completing the team’s lineup for 2014, the BMC Racing Team has announced that the Belgian rider Ben Hermans will be the final signing in the roster for next season.



The 27 year old has been part of the RadioShack Leopard setup for the past two years but with that team stopping and some but not all of the riders moving across to the new Trek squad, he was left without a place. He said that he had resigned himself to dropping down a level, but then the new offer came along.



“It is really late in the season and I was already prepared to go pro continental level,” he admitted, speaking about the difficulty in finding a contract at a time when several teams are stopping. “So this is a nice surprise.”



Hermans turned pro in 2009 with the Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator team and then spent two years with the US-based RadioShack squad. He accompanied the title sponsor when it moved across to the Leopard setup prior to 2012, and has been there since then.



His results include fifth overall in this year’s Santos Tour Down Under, as well as victory in the 2011 Trofeo Inca, third in that year’s Tour de Wallonie and eighth in the Amstel Gold Race. He has twice finished second in the Belgian national time trial championships and in 2010 he won a stage of the Tour of Belgium.



He clearly has ability; now he wants to build experience and to try to get more out of himself. “I know I can learn from a guy like Cadel Evans and there are also some very good Belgian riders, like Philippe Gilbert and Greg Van Avermaet, that I can watch and learn from,” he stated.



The team’s president and general manager Jim Ochowicz said that he is looking forward to working with the Belgian. “We are pleased to add Ben to our roster for 2014,” he stated. “He has valuable experience on multiple levels from his years in the races and will add value to the team at every turn. We welcome him to the BMC Racing Team family.”



The WorldTour squad will have its 2014 team presentation in eight days’ time in the new Velodrome Suisse in Grenchen, Switzerland. Its riders will speak about their various goals there, including Gilbert, Tejay van Garderen and Evans.



The latter said this week that he is unlikely to ride the Tour de France, choosing instead to focus completely on trying to win the Giro d’Italia.



A video interview with him can be seen here.