De Marchi signs with new-look CCC team for 2019

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Alessandro De Marchi (BMC) on the attack(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

BMC Racing holding company Continuum Sports has announced that Alessandro De Marchi will remain with the team under their new guise next season. De Marchi joins Greg Van Avermaet, Nathan Van Hooydonck and Michael Schär as confirmed as staying, while Guillaume Van Keirsbulck has already been announced as a new signing. Patrick Bevin is also set to stay but has not yet been confirmed by the team.

De Marchi joined BMC Racing in 2015 after two years with the Cannondale team, and two with Androni-Giocattoli before that. He is known for his regular appearances in breakaways and won the combativity award at the 2014 Tour de France. He also has two stage victories at the Vuelta a Espana, from 2014 and 2015. With the team’s lengthy search for a sponsor, De Marchi had looked elsewhere for next season but chose to remain with the team after they secured CCC as a new sponsor.

"During the spring, I was starting to look around for other teams and I was quite certain that I would be with another team in 2019 despite all of the things I have enjoyed during my time with BMC Racing Team,” De Marchi explained in a team press release. “Then, CCC was announced as the new title sponsor and Jim Ochowicz explained to me the new direction of the team. I was really excited by this opportunity and I realized that I could find the change I was looking for whilst remaining with Continuum Sports. So, I am very happy to stay with the team and I appreciate Jim's honest approach and the team's desire to extend my contract."

De Marchi will be part of a very different looking team, not only because of the likely kit change. While Van Avermaet will remain with the American set-up, several riders have already confirmed their departure, including Stefan Kung, Rohan Dennis, Alberto Bettiol, Damiano Caruso, Tejay van Garderen, Dylan Teuns and Loic Vliegen. Simon Gerrans has also announced his retirement at the end of the season, while Richie Porte is expected to move to Trek-Segafredo next season and Kilian Frankiny is believed to be joining Kung at Groupama-FDJ. With so many riders heading to other set-ups, keeping De Marchi is good news for the team.