Tejay van Garderen has been one of the form riders at one of the WorldTour’s form teams – BMC Racing. The American, second in Oman and third in Catalunya, has been back to the form he showed on the way to winning the white jersey at the 2012 Tour de France and as preparations intensify for this year’s race he will be keen to prove he can compete with the likes of Froome and Costa.
The time trial finale will hold no fears for the American, so the key will be whether he can put any time into his main GC rivals heading over the undulating stages earlier on. In Catalunya he won on the summit finish on Vallter 2000, so his climbing legs will be no problem, and his attacking nature will mark him as a rider to watch on the undulating stage three. Darwin Atapuma and Peter Velits are among a strong support team for van Garderen – despite the focus being on Cadel Evans’ Giro preparation – so the American will no doubt be at the sharp end.
