Tejay Van Garderen Discussion Thread

[Ricco']

Re:

the rules are never, never apply strictly, if they do, we wouldt have any cycling.

And this is the problem of cycling. That's the way of thinking that leads riders to don't care about the rules and then he have pats in the back in time trials, riders taking a lift of their team car up the mountains, riders in forbidden paths in the northern classics, riders crossing train passages when they are closed, etc., etc.

We have a governing body that publishes rules and then implements them when they want and how they want, that's the real problem and not the existence of rules.

I will never forget what happened on the time trial of last year's Giro when a Individual Time Trial was turned into a two and three-riders team time trial at times and the result? Only Tsatevich was pulled out of the race and it was a decision of his team, not of the jury.

 

[carolina]

and lets not forget about the whole the peloton arriving after the time limit without no justification whatsoever...

 

[Valv.Piti]

Better than I expected today, credit given where credit is due.

 

[silvergrenade]

Re:

Better than I expected today, credit given where credit is due.

This somehow reeks of sarcasm. :lol: :lol:

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Better than I expected today, credit given where credit is due.

This somehow reeks of sarcasm. :lol: :lol:

Dead serious, he did better than I expected. He has become a train wreck. Once a really strong anaerobic, diesel kinda rider he has devolved into nothing.

That said, he congratulated Valverde on the win and all seems good. Valverde even replied and said thanks for the message. So thats something.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Not sure he was that bad due to the freaks ahead.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Yes, Tejay showed a lot of class in defeat. Can't be said about many other riders

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Not sure he was that bad due to the freaks ahead.

This should be taken into consideration as well. The others were just extremely fast.

 

[silvergrenade]

Re: Re:

Better than I expected today, credit given where credit is due.

This somehow reeks of sarcasm. :lol: :lol:

Dead serious, he did better than I expected. He has become a train wreck. Once a really strong anaerobic, diesel kinda rider he has devolved into nothing.

That said, he congratulated Valverde on the win and all seems good. Valverde even replied and said thanks for the message. So thats something.

Yeah, maybe he will turn a corner and bring in his '12 Tour form. Nice to see the camaraderie.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Okay. Maybe I wasn't dead serious. :lol:

 

[Jspear]

It's weird to see riders like him and Talansky tank so badly - even Dombrowski was thought to be a potential somebody. These Americans disappoint. Fingers crossed that Adrien Costa develops well.

 

[hrotha]

Re:

Not sure he was that bad due to the freaks ahead.

He was towed to the finish line by 39-year-old Samu.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Not sure he was that bad due to the freaks ahead.

He was towed to the finish line by 39-year-old Samu.

Grande Samu! Damnit, I didn't realize he is that old already

 

[Geraint Too Fast]

Tejay's been regurgitating the same lines after each of this years disappointing MTF results;

Jebel Hafeet

"I was confident, I was ready to race, I had the team put me in a good position. They did a perfect job, they really ramped it up at the start of the climb and kind of put me in the red. Normally I can go into the red and then, once it settles down, recover and regain the rhythm. But this time I went into the red and just kind of blew up.

"You can chalk that down to either the bug, or maybe just it being my first race. I don't want to make excuses. I'm not happy with my performance but at the same time I'm also not panicking because I know I put in a good winter. I'm confident in the work that I did up until this point."

Terminillo

"I felt pretty good on the climb, and I was right up there with the leaders until 4km to go, but then with all the sharp acceleration, I paid the price. I don’t have very many races in my legs, and it is still early in the season. My form is good but I am just missing a bit of top end speed, but I think that will come with more race practice. This is all build-up to the Giro d’Italia. My training has gone really well, and I was hoping I could make up a few fewer race days with good training, but there are some things you just can’t practice unless you’re in the race.”

Lo Port

"I felt really good and confident going into the final climb but the pace and the gradient weren't treating me very well, and I couldn't hold their wheel in the end. I'm obviously a little disappointed but there is still a long way to until my main goal of the year, and I feel like I am constantly making forward progress. To win here would have been a good confidence boost but I don't think it's time to panic. I definitely know what I need to work on during this next phase of training and I am ready to put in what's needed to hopefully reach the end goal."

Either he's deluded, or he's saving something for the Giro.

 

[hrotha]

Why is he referring to a potential victory in a one-week WT race as a "confidence boost" instead of as perhaps the most important win in his career? I think that might be his problem.

 

[May0maniac]

Yeah, I don't think that he'll show up at the Giro peaking like 2014 Nibali, but I wouldn't mind it.

 

[Geraint Too Fast]

The thing is, he's usually a reliable performer in February and March, so I think it's bit strange that he doesn't seem overly concerned by his results this year.

 

[lenric]

TVG would see a win in Catalunya as a confidence boost to the GT that attends less to his strengths, particularly when his only victories in stage races are Tour of California and USA pro cycling race.
Now that's a guy who overvalues himself.

 

[Valv.Piti]

I don't know how he did in Oman, but he cracked completely in both Tirreno and Catalunya with 5-6 km and just began to bleed time. Tells me that he desperately wants to be able to hang on and push the watts he once could, but they aren't there hence the big timelosses.

Simply rides above his FTP for a good amount of time and is paying the bill later on the climb as everyone else would. Just isn't better.

 

[Billie]

this is one of the 10 best paid riders in the peloton for 5 years. lol wouldn't surprise me if Rihs lights his cigars with 1000 CHF bills.

 

[Tonton]

He's still fairly young, so what is happening? He has always been bad luck, but now it's plain stamina. Not to get into, and please refrain from "other" discussions, wow, he's no longer the TJVG we knew. He's done.

 

[Jancouver]

Cycling can be very unpredictable, but with TJ, you know what to expect. I think I wrote quite a bit about him and Talansky in the CQ game thread. I'm not good at betting on sports, but leaving both of them out of my CQ team last year and this year seems to be a solid bet thus far

 

[movingtarget]

TJVG rides like he has a health issue. He no longer has the same stamina or diesel ability in the mountains and his TT is not what it used to be. He is in his peak years now so it doesn't look good. If he has another year like last year I am not sure who would want to sign him.

 

[Aguirre]

By his words he simply looks deluded. Overrated rider. Maybe a Spot in the top 10 at the Giro.
Thats all

 

[Valv.Piti]

He would be lucky to raise his generel level to be competing for top-10s in Italy now. And thats excluding the high possibilities for a offday a lá Van Garderen. So all in all, bleak times which I can't say Im sorry about.