Having spent much of the 2009 domestic racing season as de facto director for the BMC Racing Team, Mike Sayers has signed a contract which will keep him working with the team through 2011.
"It is the position I have wanted for a long time and I think I can even say this is the culmination of my entire career," said Sayers who retired from professional racing last year after 14 seasons. "From maybe my first year as a professional, I have looked at the director's job as being what I really wanted to do."
BMC has been ramping up its operations over the past two seasons, so taking on a full-time assistant director was something they planned on doing, but only at the right moment. "It wasn't possible for General Manager Gavin Chilcott to take me on immediately, but he kept me in the mix all season," said Sayers.
"First and foremost Mike will be the assistant director in charge of the US side of racing which means he will be my eyes and ears in the US," said Directeur Sportif John Lelangue. "I'm really happy to be working with him since he has the necessary experience which means that I can have total confidence in whatever strategy he adopts for a particular race."
BMC will also be including Sayers in larger European races where a second team car is required. "I can't say at which races in Europe he'll be yet, but I already know he will be an enormous help since we share the same philosophy and strategy," Lelangue said.