Tejay Van Garderen finished fifth in the 2014 Tour de France on this BMC TeamMachine SLR01.
The 25-year-old secured the same result in 2012, his breakthrough year, in a race won by Team Sky’s Bradley Wiggins and proved that was no fluke this time out, despite crashing on stage seven and losing time on the climb of the Port de Balès on stage 16.
The American, whose machine is decorated with the star and stripes of his country’s flag, recovered on the two remaining stages in the Pyrenees and climbed back into the top five by leapfrogging FDJ.fr’s Romain Bardet in Saturday’s individual time trial.
Van Garderen’s machine is equipped with a full Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset, Shimano Dura-Ace wheels and 3T finishing kit. Let’s take a closer look.
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Top five
Tejay Van Garderen rode to fifth on this BMC TeamMachine SLR01 at the 2014 Tour de France. The 24-year-old also finished fifth in 2012 and proved that was no fluke by equaling the result this time out, overhauling Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) in Saturday's time trial to squeeze into the top five once again.
Stars and stripes
The toptube of every BMC rider's bike at the Tour de France was decorated with their national flag. Washington-born Van Garderen, who was the USA's best-placed rider in the race, gets the stars and stripes.
World Cup winners
Van Garderen's team-mate, Marcus Berghardt, is German and his bike proudly wore the yellow, red and black of the football World Cup winners through the Tour. Berghardt finished the race in 154th place from the 164 riders who made it to Paris.
TeamMachine
Most riders on the team, Van Garderen included, use the BMC lightweight TeamMachine SLR01, as opposed to the aero TimeMachine TMR01. The TeamMachine was revamped last year, with the weight dropped to a claimed 790g for a frame said to be the result of 34,000 iterations produced by BMC's Accelerated Composites Evolution software, which they say allowed them to tweak the design according to a number of parameters – including tube profiles, carbon layup and UCI regulations.
Reach for the stars
Van Garderen stands 6'1" tall but, as is the case with many professional cyclists, rides a smaller-than-average 56cm frame. A length 140mm stem, with a -17 degree negative rise, helps the 25-year-old achieve his desired reach. The stem is an aluminium 3T ARX-Team unit, which clamps a 42cm-wide, carbon fibre 3T Ergosum Team handlebar.
Commonplace
Keeping the chain straight, and not using a big-big or small-small combination, will help you use your gears efficiently (Pic: Campagnolo)
Wider is better
In recent years many teams have switched to wider tyres in search of more comfort, better grip and, when mounted to a wide rim, marginally improved aerodynamics. Van Garderen's machine had 25mm Continental Competition ProLtd tubular tyres for the Tour, glued to a Shimano Dura-Ace C50 wheel at the rear and a shallower Dura-Ace C35 hoop at the front.
Plush
Van Garderen sits on a Fizik Arione K3 saddle, which was initially designed for triathlon and which has additional padding compared to a standard Arione. Fizik introduced reflective saddle covers at this year's Tour.
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