BMC has announced that Marcus Burghardt, Brent Bookwalter, Yannick Eijssen, Martin Kohler and Danilo Wyss have extended their contracts with the American team. The quintet have played important domestique roles and are set to continue their job of providing optimal opportunities for their leaders.

The American BMC Racing Team hold their team presentation in Switzerland today and have continued the process of strengthening their roster for the coming season by extending the contracts of 5 for their current riders. Marcus Burghardt, Brent Bookwalter, Yannick Eijssen, Martin Kohler and Danilo Wyss will all stay on the team but the specific terms of their contracts haven't been released.

Burghardt is a former Gent-Wevelgem and Tour de France stage winner who was regarded as a big talent for the cobbled classics but has mostly played a domestique role in recent years. He joined BMC in 2010 and has been a crucial supporter that has been selected for the Tour de France all four years.

Bookwalter is an American time trial specialist who rose to fame when he finished 2nd behind Bradley Wiggins in the 2010 Giro d'Italia prologue.  Being a versatile rider who can both ride on the flats and climb well, he won a stage in the Tour of Qatar and finished 2nd in the Tour of Alberta this year but has mostly been a valuable support rider in the stage races, including the 2010, 2011 and 2013 Tours de France.

Eijssen has long been regarded as the next big Belgian climber but the transition from the youth to the professional ranks have been difficult for the 24-year-old. This year he has raised the bar and finished 3rd on the queen stage in the Tour of Utah before finishing his second Vuelta a Espana in a row.

Kohler is a loyal domestique and former Swiss time trial and road race champion. He got his moment in the spotlight when he wore the leader's jersey in the 2012 Tour Down Under but has otherwise mostly been known for his hard work for his team leaders. He finished 4th on a stage in this year's Vuelta.

Finally, Wyss is a fast rider who excelled as a sprinter in the first part of his career but has now settled into a domestique role. He is still given the occasional role to mix it up in the bunch sprints and finished in the top 10 in 4 stages of this year's Volta a Catalunya.

"Having raced for us before, they know our patterns, our system, and they understand our racing style," manager Jim Ochowicz said. "They fulfill an important need we have so our leaders can count on their skills to improve their results."

The contract extensions follow the new signings of Darwin Atapuma, Silvan Dillier, Ben Hermans, Peter Stetina, Rick Zabel and Peter Velits.