BMC hoping for wild-card status

The BMC Racing team is hoping to get the nod from the UCI to race the sport's top events, the team reported this week. Team manager Gavin Chilcott traveled to Switzerland last week to attend the UCI License Commission hearing which the UCI held to discuss the teams' qualifications. The team was granted wild card status in 2008, a designation which is required in order for Professional Continental teams to compete in the ProTour or World Calendar events.

"I feel as though the hearing went well and I am optimistic that they will decide in our favour," Chilcott said in a press release. The team must participate in the UCI's biological passport program in order to earn the designation. "We declared our commitment to the biological passport program which is not something that all Pro Continental teams do," Chilcott said.

Now that Garmin-Slipstream has stepped up to a ProTour license, BMC is the only USA-registered team on the list of Professional Continental squads. The wild card status will be critical in the team gaining entry to two of its major targets, the Tour of Romandie and the Tour of Switzerland.

"We want to be at the Tours of Romandie and Switzerland again this year, and we also want to increase the number of large European races we are invited to," Chilcott said.