The 28-year-old Polish rider was part of the CCC Sprandi Polkowice Pro Continental outfit this season, and will move along with the title sponsor to the WorldTour team that formed from the BMC Racing Team.
Bernas is a prolific racer who has excelled in one-day races, scoring numerous top 10s in UCI 1.2-ranked events. His main accomplishment this season was second place in the inaugural Great War Remembrance Race from a breakaway. He will focus on the Classics with the WorldTour team.
"Pawel Bernas is the latest addition to our Classics team for 2019, when we become CCC Team, and will play a key role in supporting Greg Van Avermaet in the spring," General Manager Jim Ochowicz said. "Pawel already has experience at some of the smaller spring Classics and his result at the Great War Remembrance Race was a sign of what he can do, so we are excited to welcome him to the team.
"This is a unique opportunity for Pawel to make his debut with a WorldTour team that has a Polish title sponsor, and, as our main focus of the 2019 season will be the Classics, it is a great fit for him. Under our guidance, we hope Pawel will gain more experience and develop further not just in the Classics, but also stage races too."
Bernas said he was excited to take such a big step up in his career.
"I always believed that the Classics were my type of races, but I needed that one good result that would prove this, so my result at the Great War Remembrance Race was definitely that self-confidence boost that I needed.
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"I'd love to focus on one-day races next season but I also want to become a solid part of the team during stage races as well. My main goal and ambition is to develop and show my potential during the season and stay racing at the WorldTour level. It would be amazing to do my first Grand Tour and Monument and this will show that everything is going in the right direction. If I can have a chance to take an opportunity, like at the Great War Remembrance Race, then this would be incredibly motivational."
Bernas joins three fellow Polish riders from CCC Sprandi Polkowice in the transition: Kamil Gradek, Lukasz Owsian and Szymon Sajnok, in addition to Portuguese rider Amaro Antunes. Lukasz Wisniowski signed with the squad from Team Sky, making a total of five Poles on the 2019 roster.
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