• The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

Tejay Van Garderen.

Page 9 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.

Do you think Tejay Van Garderen is overrated?

  • It's all about the tarmac.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0
masking_agent said:
i just hope he doesn't turn out to be another Andy Hampsten:confused:

I think a big benefit today compared to the late 80's is that the Giro is much more well known, and well appreciated by racing fans in the US. And likely across the planet. If TVG won the Giro, and in a way that Hamsten won it (impossible), then there would be a huge celebration among cyclists in the US. Way beyond anything Andy saw in his day for that amazing and heroic win.

If you're comparing him to Andy's post-1986 Tours, then outside of the win on Alpe in '92, you may be correct. Andy himself was probably disappointed that he never got to the podium. Though in retrospect the courses (rather long ITT's those years) were unfriendly to his chances, and the EPO infestation into the peloton pushed him into a relatively early retirement at 32.
 
The_Z_man said:
Yeah, it would be horrible if he won the Giro, finished on the podium there the next year, and won on Alpe D'Huez.

Not to mention three (?) other GT stage wins, a Suisse GC win, a Romandie GC win, stages at Suisse and Romandie ... yeah, why bother if a pitiful palmares like that is all that awaits. :confused: Especially when all he has to go along with that is an impeccible reputation in the face of the onslaught of cycling's dirtiest era.
 
I think he's still underated. We haven't even seen what he can do. He's 23 and he had the collar on as Evans climb lieutenant. Pinot didn't have such restrictions. Of course that doesn't mean he would have won absent those restrictions but we didn't get a chance to see what was possible.

Plus he's still only 23 years old.

As for Evans he's cooked. Barring injury/illiness he won't be as strong as TJVG in the 2013 TDF.
 
LesDiablesRouges said:
I think he's still underated. We haven't even seen what he can do. He's 23 and he had the collar on as Evans climb lieutenant. Pinot didn't have such restrictions. Of course that doesn't mean he would have won absent those restrictions but we didn't get a chance to see what was possible.

Plus he's still only 23 years old.

As for Evans he's cooked. Barring injury/illiness he won't be as strong as TJVG in the 2013 TDF.

Lots said the same thing about Evans last year. Better riders than TJVG have been and gone without leaving a mark on the sport. One race does not make a career. Popovych, Kreuziger and Gesink had the same accolades pushed on them without fulfilling their potential and many others. Admittedly there is still time for the latter two and TJVG.
 
Aug 23, 2012
1,114
1
0
Visit site
movingtarget said:
Lots said the same thing about Evans last year. Better riders than TJVG have been and gone without leaving a mark on the sport. One race does not make a career. Popovych, Kreuziger and Gesink had the same accolades pushed on them without fulfilling their potential and many others. Admittedly there is still time for the latter two and TJVG.

Tejay Van Garderen is the strongest GT rider in the time trial only after Wiggins and maybe Froome. And this is a big difference in comparison with Gesink or Kreuziger. He also could climb well as we saw in La Toussuire stage in the TDF or in Dauphiné 2010. I think he is a future winner of a Grand Tour. He demostrated in the last Tour that he is a three weeks rider and very strong in all terrains. Also we havent seen his limits yet.
 
Jason_Mercier said:
Tejay Van Garderen is the strongest GT rider in the time trial only after Wiggins and maybe Froome. And this is a big difference in comparison with Gesink or Kreuziger. He also could climb well as we saw in La Toussuire stage in the TDF or in Dauphiné 2010. I think he is a future winner of a Grand Tour. He demostrated in the last Tour that he is a three weeks rider and very strong in all terrains. Also we havent seen his limits yet.

I think he is a good GC rider just not podium material. Not to say underrated as he has not podiumed a GT yet and not to say overrated as he has been top 10 in the tour as well as won TOC. If he plays it intelligently he may podium a GT like Hesjesdal. As long as he focuses on TDF and mixes with the like of Froome, Contador, Schleck, Wiggins, Rodriguez, Valverde, Quintana he will be in the lower rungs of the GC.
 
Jul 19, 2010
5,361
0
0
Visit site
IndianCyclist said:
I think he is a good GC rider just not podium material. Not to say underrated as he has not podiumed a GT yet and not to say overrated as he has been top 10 in the tour as well as won TOC. If he plays it intelligently he may podium a GT like Hesjesdal. As long as he focuses on TDF and mixes with the like of Froome, Contador, Schleck, Wiggins, Rodriguez, Valverde, Quintana he will be in the lower rungs of the GC.

I agree. he another version of wiggins. Not the exact carbon copy, but sorta like him. if the GT consist of a ridiculous 100km ITT, with mountain that ends with downhill, then he will have a chance to podium. Other than that, I see more potential GT podium material young rider out there than him. He's probably be on second tier. Good GT rider but not good enough to podium or even win it. Maybe like birdsong
 
Jelantik said:
I agree. he another version of wiggins. Not the exact carbon copy, but sorta like him. if the GT consist of a ridiculous 100km ITT, with mountain that ends with downhill, then he will have a chance to podium. Other than that, I see more potential GT podium material young rider out there than him. He's probably be on second tier. Good GT rider but not good enough to podium or even win it. Maybe like birdsong

He is a lesser version of Wiggins. Can't climb as well or TT but he is only 23. Look at riders like Martin, Hesjedal and Kreuziger. How long did it take them to win a decent race. He could be five years off his best performances. Nibali is only hitting his straps at 28. It will be a few years before we know whether TJVG makes it to the top or not. At the moment consistency is his problem. TOC win means nothing in a grand tour.
 
Jul 10, 2010
2,906
1
0
Visit site
Zam_Olyas said:
Vote away like you would on a wet Tshirt election :D

<<shudder>> Perish the thought!

Armanius said:
Yes, the NBC Sports people vastly overrate TVG. He's good though. But not as good as Bob Roll thinks.

Meh, Bob Roll doesn't think he's that good - them's talking points.

He's not over-rated, he's over-hyped. Everybody is always looking for "the next big thing", and of course, Americans want a US winner - that's what sells the ads and drives the coverage. Got to keep the audience excited!

Pump it up!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6FYRSD9A8k
 
Tejay disappoints again. Guess he just was lucky with the parcours in 2012. I'll give him this, he is always honest when asked about his day. No excuses, just it was hard and I couldn't keep up! He is interviewed every day for US tv and has always been very forthright about his condition. Yesterday he was quite dejected, mentally down. Hopefully he rested well and the legs respond today. He is a nice guy, vanilla but nice.
 
Jun 28, 2014
120
0
0
Visit site
Would be better with a team that could support him.

Drinking game:
- drink every time you see a BMC rider in the breakway, and then drink when they fall off, and once again when they get passed by the team leader
- drink every time Stetina rides into the wind trying to pull everyone into a worthless position (drink again when none of them follow him)
- drink every time TJ is the first of the GC contenders that is isolated
- drink for every BMC rider that gets burned off completing simple tasks
- drink for every time TJ is in trouble and Van Avermaet attacks
- waterfall during the duration a BMC domestique thinks TJ is on their wheel but he is not
 

TRENDING THREADS