Brent Bookwalter, runner-up at this year’s USA Pro Challenge, has renewed his contract with BMC Racing for 2016. The U.S.-registered team announced Wednesday that the 31-year-old American will continue his eight-year tenure with the red and black outfit.
 “This is where I feel like I am home and where I have been able to grow and develop and find personal success while helping the team achieve many of its goals as well,” Bookwalter said. “I feel like it is a great relationship and partnership, and it is really exciting to be able to continue it for another year.”
 He won a stage of the USA Pro Challenge in August and led the race for two days before finishing second to teammate Rohan Dennis. Bookwalter was also twice runner-up on stages at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah on his way to third-place overall and the points classification title.
 “Brent has brought years of high performance and unselfish sacrifices to his fellow teammates, yet he continues to find many individual successes himself,” BMC Racing Team president/general manager Jim Ochowicz said. “His presence on the starting line always gives the team a feeling of confidence.”
 After joining the team in 2008, Bookwalter finished runner-up in the stage 1 individual time trial of the 2010 Giro d’Italia. In 2011, he rode the Tour de France in support of that year’s winner, Cadel Evans. In 2013, he won the opening stage of the Tour of Qatar on the way to a runner-up finish overall.
 “The success I have been able to find is a testament to a lot of hard work and commitment from myself, the people who are close to me and from the BMC Racing Team,” Bookwalter continued. “I have been fortunate to have close advisors, family and friends who have helped me develop and continue to progress. It has been fulfilling to step into a leadership role when the opportunity arises, and I am looking forward to more of these opportunities in 2016. Whether it is working for others as a teammate, or continuing my path as a more veteran rider of the team, I feel like I am still improving and have yet to reach my best level.”
 Bookwalter will compete for the final time this season in Sunday’s UCI World Road Championships before organizing the second running of his “Bookwalter Binge Gran Fondo” next month in Black Mountain, N.C.