Santambrogio eager to ride for BMC

After leaving Lampre at the end of 2009, Mauro Santambrogio is off to a US-based team to help the current and former World Champions at BMC Racing Team.

“I cannot wait to get back into the game,” he said. “The idea of riding for a U.S. team is really exciting and also somewhat intriguing.”
He picked to ride for BMC for the coming year for one simple reason: “I had confidence in these people. In my opinion it is the team of the future.”

Santambrogio, 25, has ridden for the Italian team Lampre since 2007. He signed a two-year contract with the Professional-Ranked BMC Racing, where he will join current World Champion Cadel Evans and former champion Alessandro Ballan.

“We're a good group,” he told tuttobici.com, “and I must point out that in addition to Evans and Ballan, there are other riders who are good and are internationally renowned.”

Santambrogio had one victory this year, winning the Tre Valli Varesine. He will make his debut with BMC at the season's opening ProTour race, the Tour Down Under (January 19-24), in which he finished eighth overall last year.

He will use the TDU “primarily to lay the groundwork for the Ardennes races - La Fleche Wallonne and Liege Bastogne Liege, “two great Classics that are run in the spring and were I can repay the trust that has been shown in me.”

He also expects to be a helper for Evans and Ballan at the Giro d'Italia. “The decision has been made and both Ballan and I will take part. And it is already clear that with Evans as captain of BMC, my responsibilities are greater.”