This year Tejay van Garderen will get the full support of the BMC team at the Tour de France and the management have selected a very strong team to back their leader. Climbers Darwin Atapuma, Peter Stetina, Peter Velits and Amael Moinard will be there for the captain in the mountains while Michael Schär, Greg Van Avermaet, Marbus Burghardt and Daniel Oss wil taek care of their leader in the flat stages.

The BMC Racing Team revealed Wednesday the eight riders who will support Tejay van Garderen at the Tour de France.

Three riders who helped Cadel Evans win the 2011 Tour de France for the BMC Racing Team – Marcus Burghardt, Amaël Moinard and Michael Schär – will be joined by Tour veterans Daniel Oss, Greg Van Avermaet and Peter Velits. Darwin Atapuma and Peter Stetina are first-time participants in the three-week, 21-stage race that begins July 5 with three stages in Great Britain and covers 3,664 kilometers before concluding July 27 in Paris.

"We go to the Tour de France with an experienced team that has helped guide a past winner," BMC Racing Team President/General Manager Jim Ochowicz said. "So we feel confident we have the right mix of people on the starting line. We go there not as favorites, but as contenders, and we expect to animate the race from time to time, as we have done in the past."

BMC Racing Team Sporting Manager Allan Peiper said the goals for forming a solid team around van Garderen were two-fold.

"We put together a well-balanced team of climbers and helpers to support Tejay on all terrain and, at the same time, we want to be able to try for stage wins on specific days," Peiper said.

Yvon Ledanois, who will serve as the team's lead sport director for the race, said he saw strong bonding and teamwork at the Critérium du Dauphiné, where six of the nine rode together.

"We have a team of high quality riders with experience who can get victories and do good work for their leader," he said. "We also have a good staff in place to give us strength and energy."

Van Garderen will be making his fourth Tour de France start with a best finish of fifth in 2012 while earning "best young rider honors." A runner-up finish at the Tour of Oman and stage win at the Volta a Catalunya were highlights of his pre-Tour campaign. But sickness forced his withdrawal from Paris-Nice and a crash in the prologue of the Tour de Romandie led to a small fracture to his hip.

"I don't think the setbacks are going to have any effect on how the Tour de France is going to be raced," van Garderen said. "The bottom line is you can come back from just about anything if you have put in the work in the winter. I have trained hard and have a solid base and solid foundation of training. It's just a matter of not having any bad luck."

Riders:
Darwin Atapuma (COL), Marcus Burghardt (GER), Amaël Moinard (FRA), Daniel Oss (ITA), Michael Schär (SUI), Peter Stetina (USA), Greg Van Avermaet (BEL), Tejay van Garderen (USA), Peter Velits (SVK).