BMC adds youth to experienced 2010 roster

BMC Racing Team has signed Mauro Santambrogio and Alexander Kristoff to join its star-studded line-up for 2010. Both riders are aged 25 or under and will join the likes of George Hincapie, Karsten Kroon, Alessandro Ballan, Marcus Burghardt and Steve Moribito at the growing squad for next season.

BMC’s sports director John Lelangue was delighted to announce the two new signings. “Our two latest signings are both very interesting for our team," said Lelangue. "Santambrogio will be a good addition to our stage race team since he is young, but he has already found a good deal of success racing in Italy. And to win in Italy is already quite an accomplishment he can be proud of."

Santambrogio turned professional in 2004 and has spend the five seasons since riding for Italy’s Lampre squad. Norway’s Kristoff however is a neo-professional and the team hopes his classics experience will blossom riding alongside someone with the experience of Hincapie.

"Kristoff has a really good classics résumé. I saw him racing in Ireland and was hugely impressed," Lelangue said. "He is already a good sprinter so we will be looking for him to help build up our lead-outs while also making strong contributions to our Classics program."

Kristoff hails from the Norwegian Joker Bianchi team, the same team 2009 sensation Edvald Boasson Hagen joined Columbia-HTC from. " I believe that BMC represents my best opportunity for my further development as a rider, and I hope to contribute to the success of the team and my new team mates," said Kristoff.