Defending Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet will head into the 2021 season on a familiar frame as AG2R Citroën unveiled the team's BMC Teammachine SLR01 road bikes for the coming year.
Van Avermaet raced on BMC bikes for eight seasons with the supplier's former WorldTour squad before he shifted to the CCC Team and raced on his gold-themed Giant TCR Disc bike, but will now be using the Campagnolo Super Record EPS disc brake groupset after years on Shimano Dura-Ace.
The 2021 AG2R Citroën BMC Teammachine SLR 01 gets a matching white frame with red accents on the top tube and Campagnolo's top of the line electronic groupset.
Underneath the frame are Bora WTO and Bora Ultra disc wheels, giving the French squad's BMC frames the full Italian treatment.
Team manager Vincent Lavenu said the team were happy to have Campagnolo on board to provide the team's components. "Campagnolo is renowned in the cycling world for its performance products, its racing heritage and love for the sport. Combining such an excellent brand with our new bike partner BMC gives me great confidence as we head into a new chapter for the AG2R Citroën Team," Lavenu said in a press release.
The AG2R Citroën team bolstered its Classics squad this season, bringing Van Avermaet and Bob Jungels in to complement Oliver Naesen, and shifted away from the Grand Tour podium hunt after losing Romain Bardet to Team DSM.
The team swapped its Eddy Merckx bikes for BMC this year as part of a major shift in the WorldTour that saw Bianchi, Cervélo and Scott all change teams. BMC also supplies frames to the Qhubeka Assos squad, while AG2R Citroën are one of four teams to which Campagnolo will provide components, including Cofidis, Lotto Soudal and UAE Team Emirates. The majority of WorldTour teams use Shimano - 13 - and two use SRAM.
AG2R Citroën posted a video of the team's mechanic assembling the Teammachine SLR01 from its parts.
