Tejay Van Garderen.

[myrideissteelerthanyours]

Yep. If CN did an article about how Tejay ate a cheeseburger, there would be posts in the comments about how REAL winners eat hot dogs.

lol? 10 char

 

[Netserk]

Its trendy to slag North Am riders on CNF thats all

Yeah I obviously hate all 'mericans. Or I just don't like TJ. Does that mean that other riders I don't like (Hushovd, Schleck) are 'mericans? I guess Floyd was a Colombian...

 

[Warhawk]

lol? 10 char

It's called hyperbole, bro.

 

[Anderis]

Too bad time loses on stages 7 and 16 have happened, otherwise Tejay would've had a 2nd place in the bag, I think.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Too bad time loses on stages 7 and 16 have happened, otherwise Tejay would've had a 2nd place in the bag, I think.

Yes stage 16 was the killer for him. I doubt he would ever have a better chance of finishing 2nd than this one unless he shows more.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Too bad time loses on stages 7 and 16 have happened, otherwise Tejay would've had a 2nd place in the bag, I think.

Agreed. Kittel would've won this race easy if it wasn't for all those stages he lost time in

 

[Big Doopie]

i actually think TJ gets the short end of the stick. he is not an explosive rider, so he is never going to be able to look like bardet or pinot attacking. and yet today and several other times this tour he has created the accelerations that drop riders (& valverde). i listened to both english and french eurosport and they said pinot did ALL the work. yes, pinot ended up doing MOST of the work, but TJ was relaying him quite a lot and was clearly on the rivet at the end... but he got absolutely no credit for it at all from the commentators.

 

[murali]

i actually think TJ gets the short end of the stick. he is not an explosive rider, so he is never going to be able to look like bardet or pinot attacking. and yet today and several other times this tour he has created the accelerations that drop riders (& valverde). i listened to both english and french eurosport and they said pinot did ALL the work. yes, pinot ended up doing MOST of the work, but TJ was relaying him quite a lot and was clearly on the rivet at the end... but he got absolutely no credit for it at all from the commentators.

thts becoz the commentators and ASO are biased towards french riders.

 

[Anderis]

Agreed. Kittel would've won this race easy if it wasn't for all those stages he lost time in

I knew someone would've come with the reply like that. But there were 2 stages out of 21, and out of these two, only one was Tejay's weakness.

 

[Warhawk]

thts becoz the commentators and ASO are biased towards french riders.

I think we can just accept as a valid assumption that [insert person or group X] is biased towards riders who are similar to [insert person or group X]. It's kind of a meaningless criticism. Not really much point to complaining that French media is biased towards French riders and American media is biased towards American riders unless you could somehow prove that, say, Polish media gives disproportionate coverage to Colombian riders or something. If you can do that, maybe I change my tune.

 

[maxmartin]

Lucky TJ, 2 seconds!

 

[Afrank]

Very nice performance this Tour, happy to see him get 5th.

 

[Jspear]

Very nice performance this Tour, happy to see him get 5th.

Yes, I'm happy for win. Ended up being closer than I thought. Wonder what would have happened if Bardet had not punctured....

 

[Moviefan1203]

Great Tour by Tejay especially so considering all the misfortune he faced. With better luck, next year I'd love to see him improve on this result.

 

[theyoungest]

Great Tour by Tejay especially so considering all the misfortune he faced. With better luck, next year I'd love to see him improve on this result.

All the misfortune? He crashed once, that's about it, right? Most riders (except Nibali) experienced something like that.

 

[Moviefan1203]

All the misfortune? He crashed once, that's about it, right? Most riders (except Nibali) experienced something like that.

Multiple crashes. What was it 4 or 5 total?

 

[MBotero]

Good performance from him to get the 5th place,but i still believe that with a better team support he can do more.

 

[Warhawk]

Multiple crashes. What was it 4 or 5 total?

Yep. Plus bronchitis.

 

[Moviefan1203]

Good performance from him to get the 5th place,but i still believe that with a better team support he can do more.

He is very young, the goal is one day to win this race. But along with a better team he also needs better luck. His luck was downright awful this year.

 

[Sciocco]

He is very young, the goal is one day to win this race. But along with a better team he also needs better luck. His luck was downright awful this year.

He'll need more luck than Nibali got this year. It is difficult to imagine TJVG ever winning the TdF unless he becomes so much of a better climber that he'll, well... clinic.

 

[Moviefan1203]

He'll need more luck than Nibali got this year. It is difficult to imagine TJVG ever winning the TdF unless he becomes so much of a better climber that he'll, well... clinic.

There was a time I thought Evans and Wiggins would never win a Tour. If they can do it, so can Tejay. He will have to get better, but he also is only 25. He has plenty of time to hone his craft.

 

[Cookster15]

There was a time I thought Evans and Wiggins would never win a Tour. If they can do it, so can Tejay. He will have to get better, but he also is only 25. He has plenty of time to hone his craft.

Exactly. Very good performance from Tejay especially with the crashes and bronchitis. The bronchitis especially will have blunted his climbing for obvious reasons.

 

[Afrank]

Watching the NBC coverage that I DVRed, and they kept talking about how Van Garderen had a chance to get on the podium in the TT. Are you kidding me? :facepalm:

Idiots like those that commentate on NBC are why people say Van Garderen is over-hyped.

 

[9000ft]

IMO, anyone who finishes in the top 5 of a GT isn't "overrated", they are an elite level rider among the best in the world. I don't have any problem calling TJVG as a "contender" either. Not a favorite perhaps, but for sure worthy of being called a contender.

Hopefully this isn't getting into clinic territory but if cycling is going to be "cleaner" then you'd expect riders to have a bad day or two in a GT. I don't think TJ, or any other rider having a bad day in a GT makes them overrated, I think it makes them human. Plus, as others have mentioned he's young. If he stays healthy and motivated he has at least 10+ years to improve and maybe become a real favorite - or maybe not, but I have no doubt he belongs with the top of the elite; that small percentage of professional riders who could win a GT sometime in their career.

 

[lenric]

There are probably 4 GC contenders: Quintana, Nibali, Froome and Contador. After them, you have outsiders.