But those 2 5th places against weak fields (plus a couple of weeklong stage race wins in the western US) are precisely the results on which those expectations were based. It’s hard to justify “he should have done better than finishing 5th in the Tour, twice” when your whole argument is “because he finished 5th in the Tour twice.”It is indeed solid as an overall result, but rather unspectacular (5th in two of the weakest TdF in the decade), while expectations were way higher and his success in week-long races didn't really translate into GT. Van Garderen had a history of crashes, illnesses, fading... that is what makes his result dissapointing.