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Tejay Van Garderen Discussion Thread

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Re: Tejay Van Garderen

He doesn't have to attack as he's only chance to win this race is Froome cracking/going home and that was clear after PSM stage.Valverde and G. will crack at some point no mater how good they look at the moment.He might lose his 2nd place to Quintana,but the 3rd place should be possible.Contador and Gesink should be the guys to worry about.
 
Who said the way he's riding isn't optimal? I'm just saying it's booooring. He doesn't race for me so he can do whatever he wants and it's perfectly legitimate, but that doesn't mean I have to appreciate it as a fan.

But that's assuming his goal is to podium. If he ever set his sights on actually winning, he'd have to do something. Anything.
 
Re:

burning said:
I guess you guys forgot about that awesome attack from Levi. :p

https://youtu.be/SWPbR0KupnU?t=480

Right TdF wrong stage. Levi's attack two days later on Stage 16 of 2007 TdF behind Rassmussen on the Aubisque distanced Contador. On Stage 14 to PdB other than his short dig in your video he basically did a Tejay and followed wheels to stay inside his red zone. Had Cadel done the same that day he would have won the Tour.

As for Tejay he is riding to his limitations and saving his energy for the Alps. And as someone else said, Tejay gets credit for doing exactly what Cadel Evans did and got lamblasted for (riding to your strengths and limitations). Anyhow I hope Tejay rises beyond the froth and can make that podium in Paris. Good luck to him.
 
Re:

Warhawk said:
Speaking of the Alps, y'know, Stage 17 is the same route as Stage 5 of the Dauphine, on which Tejay beat Froome.

OK, so it was only by 4 seconds, but still.

It was pretty obvious Froome was riding into form the whole Dauphine and that was his worst climbing stage though. Would expect him to torch TJ if he attacks.
 
Jul 19, 2010
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Re:

Dekker_Tifosi said:
i somehow expect van garderen to spectacularly blow at some point, when he tries to hang on for too long again

yeah me too. :D. He reminds me of Mollema and TenDam in 2013 Tour. They were up there, hanging tough until a very last couple mountains. They were like a tough nail to pull, still there, but in theory it should be easy to overhaul, but there they were, up there in the climbing with the rest of top contender. (I was rooting the falling contador to leapfrog them). Boy, they hung tough. Until they blew up..
 
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Re:

Carols said:
Tejay sure is hanging in there but dude you have to make a Move! Just about everyone in the top group made an attack today except the guy in 2nd! Like I said he is white bread. This Tour he has put on some butter and jam, but it's time to show us the goods. Take It to Them, Go For It!

he can't make a move.. if he does, he blew up! Period. His tactic is (he was asked about stage 12) just riding, follow wheel and let everyone blows up themselves. That's why I prefer him out of podium :D
 
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Re: Re:

Escarabajo said:
SeriousSam said:
Psalmon said:
SeriousSam said:
What's with all the disapproval for TJ? He's doing the right figh to accomplish his objective of making it onto the podium of the Tour de France.

Because you don't get to be 2nd DURING the TdF that easily or often. Every year is different. Next year you miss out on a cross wind stage. You have a mechanical that loses you minutes. You may crash in May during preparation. You get ill, have a bad day... New talented riders come along. Older talented riders return/focus. The future is NOW.

But his goal is racing for third. That's our best from the USA now? That's who we are now? Not getting 3rd, RACING for 3rd. It's. Totally. Demoralizing. May I remind you (not the movie version, the real one):

"Americans love to fight. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, the big-league ball players and the toughest boxers. Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time. That's why Americans have never lost and will never lose a war. The very thought of losing is hateful to Americans." - Patton

There is nothing wrong with racing for third when you know your limitations. Getting third would be a huge success for him. Given that the chance he wins the Tour is less than 1%, it makes sense to target an objective that he could actually achieve.

That said, it's also not clear that Tejay doing one of those "attacks" that we saw Nibali or Contador do today makes him more likely to win the Tour. If anything, he might have blown up. Tejay can't do changes of pace as well as the others.

I get it, you want to see him attack. Most of all, many might want to see him do his part to bring down Froome.

But TJ riding as he does makes perfect sense given that he craves a Tour podium. All you guys are basically either saying "TJ, why aren't you 10 times stronger than you are! Bah" or "TJ, why don't you give up riding for the podium to entertain us? Bah!"
+1.
He knows his limitations. Once he makes it to the podium, next year could be another objective and different strategy. As for now he is set to ride like that.

next year he'll ride for Porte. If BMC wants to win the Tour, don't know if TJ is the right one (based on everyone said about his limitation). He need all the stars to line up like Wiggins, then it might happen.
 
Jul 17, 2009
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Dekker_Tifosi said:
i somehow expect van garderen to spectacularly blow at some point, when he tries to hang on for too long again

Waiting for TJ to blow is about the only thing keeping me tuned in to this race.
 
Jun 16, 2009
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I think the difference between Tejay and Evans is that I personally think Tejay could have gone a lot harder in some instances such as PdB on Thursday and sought to distance his rivals. Evans on most mountain stages did not put in big attacks because he simply did not have legs and did not want to blow up. Not every gc contender is a pure climber. Some on this forum need to remember this. In addition to that, Evans was a lot more savvy and clever in the first weeks of grand tours where he or his team would put the pressure on to successfully gain time on his rivals when it wasn't expected.
 
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Re:

lenric said:
Evans was, at his physical prime, way better than Garderen.
Evans could make changes good changes of pace. Garderen looks like a donkey pulling a wagon.
That, and Evans also raced all season. Tejay did have an impressive win in Catalunya, but apart from that I have not noticed him this spring.
 
Re: Tejay Van Garderen

Rough day for Tejay. The finishing climb didn't suit him at all, and it really showed. He's going to have to keep a close eye on Valverde and Contador in the Alps to stay on the podium.

You can do it, Tejay! We believe in you! :)
 
Re: Re:

Jelantik said:
Escarabajo said:
SeriousSam said:
Psalmon said:
SeriousSam said:
What's with all the disapproval for TJ? He's doing the right figh to accomplish his objective of making it onto the podium of the Tour de France.

Because you don't get to be 2nd DURING the TdF that easily or often. Every year is different. Next year you miss out on a cross wind stage. You have a mechanical that loses you minutes. You may crash in May during preparation. You get ill, have a bad day... New talented riders come along. Older talented riders return/focus. The future is NOW.

But his goal is racing for third. That's our best from the USA now? That's who we are now? Not getting 3rd, RACING for 3rd. It's. Totally. Demoralizing. May I remind you (not the movie version, the real one):

"Americans love to fight. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, the big-league ball players and the toughest boxers. Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time. That's why Americans have never lost and will never lose a war. The very thought of losing is hateful to Americans." - Patton

There is nothing wrong with racing for third when you know your limitations. Getting third would be a huge success for him. Given that the chance he wins the Tour is less than 1%, it makes sense to target an objective that he could actually achieve.

That said, it's also not clear that Tejay doing one of those "attacks" that we saw Nibali or Contador do today makes him more likely to win the Tour. If anything, he might have blown up. Tejay can't do changes of pace as well as the others.

I get it, you want to see him attack. Most of all, many might want to see him do his part to bring down Froome.

But TJ riding as he does makes perfect sense given that he craves a Tour podium. All you guys are basically either saying "TJ, why aren't you 10 times stronger than you are! Bah" or "TJ, why don't you give up riding for the podium to entertain us? Bah!"
+1.
He knows his limitations. Once he makes it to the podium, next year could be another objective and different strategy. As for now he is set to ride like that.

next year he'll ride for Porte. If BMC wants to win the Tour, don't know if TJ is the right one (based on everyone said about his limitation). He need all the stars to line up like Wiggins, then it might happen.

Porte proved he is a better GT rider than Van Garderen like never. Obviously Van Garderen has his limitations but he's already climbing better than I ever thought he would two years ago.
 

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