By BOB NORBERG

THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Everybody should have a month as good as Santa Rosa-based BMC Racing Team.

“It is going well, things are heading in the right direction,” said Gavin Chilcott of Santa Rosa, the team’s chief executive officer, co-owner and founder. “Things are on the upswing, going according to plan, especially coming off the heels of the best result that one can get, the tour.”

BMC’s Cadel Evans of Australia won the Tour de France on July 24 and is now the No. 1 rider in the world.

(Those UCI world rankings also have three riders each from American teams RadioShack and HTC-Highroad and one from American team Garmin-Cervélo in the top 25. Levi Leipheimer of Santa Rosa is No. 25.)

The Tour de Wallonie in Belgium was won July 27 by BMC’s Greg van Amermaet of Belgium.

Taylor Phinney of Boulder, Colo., won the prologue at the Eneco Tour of Benelux in The Netherlands on Monday and the BMC rider finished seventh on Tuesday but still kept the overall lead.

And also Tuesday, BMC announced that it has signed Thor Hushovd, who now rides for Garmin-Cervélo, for the 2012 season. The Norwegian won two stages of the Tour de France and was the overall leader in the yellow jersey for seven days.

Evans is still BMC’s top rider, but Chilcott said riders aren’t ranked beyond that. Hushovd won’t climb as well as Evans, but Evans won’t sprint as well as Hushovd.

“Different people assume a designated place on the team based on which races we are in and which person is best suited to succeed in that race,” Chilcott said.

You can reach Staff Writer Bob Norberg at 521-5206 or bob.norberg@pressdemocrat.com.