Mike Sayers quits from the Sports Director Role in Team BMC
Mike Sayers has undoubtedly been a terrific support for the American squad, Team BMC since its commencement in 2007.
The cyclist joined the team back in 2007 as a rider and took over the Sports Director role in 2009.
He has helped the team with several top performances in the past season and his exit has taken everyone by surprise, as it came at a time when the team has reached the peak of its success.
The team currently holds the seventh overall position after the 2012 UCI World Tour team’s rankings with a total number of 917 points to itself.
Cadel Evans (182 points), Alessandro Ballan (172 points), Tejay Van Garderen (160 points), Greg Van Avermaet (121 points) and Philippe Gilbert (112 points) helped the team with the most number of points in the current season.
Sayers has undoubtedly helped the team with several top performances and his major concern is that being a directeur sportif is a 24-hour job.
He has spent the last four years away from his family which include a young son Brody and his wife Nicole and the team has refused to give him any more time off.
"It was not my first choice to leave, but that's how it worked out," Sayers told Cyclingnews.
“You have to be full time over there, and the past four years I've been averaging 60 days per year with my family. I just don't think it's appropriate anymore."
“My wife and I have been discussing this for the past six months, trying to figure out how to make it work, so it isn't a snap decision”.
"My wife is in banking and has a successful career, and we decided we wouldn't give up her career to move our family to Europe,” he concluded.
Team BMC made its recent appearance at the UCI Road World Championships, trading Team Time Trial event.
The six-men line-up including Alessandro Ballan, Philippe Gilbert, Taylor Phinney, Marco Pinotti, Manuel Quinziato and Tejay Van Garderen finished just 3 seconds behind Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step and occupied the second position.
Mike also hopes to stay associated with USA Cycling after he did a terrific job directing men’s elite teams for the 2012 London Olympics.
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