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Tejay Van Garderen.

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Do you think Tejay Van Garderen is overrated?

  • It's all about the tarmac.

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May 27, 2010
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Apollonius said:
I bet none of the dead nor their relatives even know who Tejay is.

Why can't sport just be about sport? :confused:

You can't possible know that, what an insensitive thing to say. He comes from Colorado and he feels that dedicating his jersey is the right thing to do, good on him, sport needs more role models like him
 
Chapeau Tejay!!! 5th in only his second TdF and White Jersey winner at age 23 :)

USA just might have us a real GT contender in a couple of years. I'm sure he learned a lot and will put it to good use going forward. Meanwhile he is a well spoken, charming young man, can't help but like him!

And nice touch to dedicate your jersey to the CO victims and their families.
 
May 19, 2011
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Carols said:
Chapeau Tejay!!! 5th in only his second TdF and White Jersey winner at age 23 :)

USA just might have us a real GT contender in a couple of years. I'm sure he learned a lot and will put it to good use going forward. Meanwhile he is a well spoken, charming young man, can't help but like him!

And nice touch to dedicate your jersey to the CO victims and their families.

It is great to see TJ take over the torch from George Hincapie.:D
 
Red Rick said:
I think he proved an awful lot of people wrong in these three weeks, including me:eek:

Me too and most of this forum. Many of us were questioning his ability to climb with the elite, even 2nd tier climbers plus his ability to endure the 3 weeks of a grand tour. He certainly shocked me with his performance. Funny thing is, the one time that Evans has high quality help in the mountains and he's not well in enough to take advantage of it.:( Well, Evans says he'll be back and stronger next year and they'll hand the reigns over to Van Garderen after that.
 
Jun 1, 2011
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maxmartin said:
It is great to see TJ take over the torch from George Hincapie.:D

Hincapie never finished in the top ten. Never wore the White. Doing 17 Tours is amazing, but Tejay at 23 has already has prizes Hincapie could never even graspe at. Hincapie is a rider to be admired, but he's not top-rung material. So there is no torch to hand on.
 
gooner said:
I am getting sick of you and your smart comments thread after thread and it seems I'm not the only one who has had enough of it now as well.

Thank you. Took the words right out of my mouth.


Angliru said:
Me too and most of this forum. Many of us were questioning his ability to climb with the elite, even 2nd tier climbers plus his ability to endure the 3 weeks of a grand tour. He certainly shocked me with his performance. Funny thing is, the one time that Evans has high quality help in the mountains and he's not well in enough to take advantage of it.:( Well, Evans says he'll be back and stronger next year and they'll hand the reigns over to Van Garderen after that.

+1
 
Angliru said:
Me too and most of this forum. Many of us were questioning his ability to climb with the elite, even 2nd tier climbers plus his ability to endure the 3 weeks of a grand tour. He certainly shocked me with his performance. Funny thing is, the one time that Evans has high quality help in the mountains and he's not well in enough to take advantage of it.:( Well, Evans says he'll be back and stronger next year and they'll hand the reigns over to Van Garderen after that.

That's the way it goes sometimes. A shame for Evans but Evans will be pleased for TJVG as will the team.
 
Timmy-loves-Rabo said:
never saw this performance coming. he did well.
Tho I don't think the field was all that great this tour personally.

Well, sure, but there's nothing wrong with that. He beat plenty of perfectly adequate cyclists. And his performance should give him a lot of confidence, regardless of the strength of the field relative to other years. He's 23, and he beat Evans, Rolland, Menchov, Roche, Valverde, Costa, Basso, Velits, Vanendert, and the entire RSNT squad. At that age, that's a good result.
 
Feb 15, 2011
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Timmy-loves-Rabo said:
never saw this performance coming. he did well.
Tho I don't think the field was all that great this tour personally.

It was easily his best display of climbing yet. His TT has always been good, but inconsistent, seems like that has gone away a little bit.
 
Jun 22, 2009
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Warhawk said:
Well, sure, but there's nothing wrong with that. He beat plenty of perfectly adequate cyclists. And his performance should give him a lot of confidence, regardless of the strength of the field relative to other years. He's 23, and he beat Evans, Rolland, Menchov, Roche, Valverde, Costa, Basso, Velits, Vanendert, and the entire RSNT squad. At that age, that's a good result.

absolutely, a very good result no doubt.
 
Jun 1, 2011
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As this Tour suited Wiggins, it may have also suited Van Garderen. Time is on his side. When the baby fat is gone, he really could come good. A climb heavy course in any GT may not suit him, but a strong team would. I am sure he will have his share of results. He really did not have a bad day this year, and lost time to aid Cadel. I think he should stay with BMC and even Cadel they do need to bag a couple more climbers and they could begin to rival what Sky brought to the TdF this year.
 
Dekker_Tifosi said:
That would mean something if Gesink actually failed purely without bad luck and would never do something in other races as well. But that's not the case

No one disputes his potential but it would be good to see it again in a grand tour. Even Menchov learned this year and was riding much closer to the front than usual. He has had a terrible run of luck which I hope changes soon. After his ride in the TOC I was hoping to see him challenging in the Tour this year.
 
BillytheKid said:
As this Tour suited Wiggins, it may have also suited Van Garderen. Time is on his side. When the baby fat is gone, he really could come good. A climb heavy course in any GT may not suit him, but a strong team would. I am sure he will have his share of results. He really did not have a bad day this year, and lost time to aid Cadel. I think he should stay with BMC and even Cadel they do need to bag a couple more climbers and they could begin to rival what Sky brought to the TdF this year.
In stage 7 he lost three minutes to the main guys including Evans, does that count as a bad day?
 
BillytheKid said:
I think he should stay with BMC and even Cadel they do need to bag a couple more climbers and they could begin to rival what Sky brought to the TdF this year.

Anything is better than seeing a rerun of the 2012 TDF. I like Tejay. He looked super strong when he attacked. Just a shame Evans didn't have the legs to go with him. The way the peloton shattered after this attack and Roger's subsequent comments "don't worry they can't keep that up" tells me if Cadel was on form it might have been 'interesting' for Sky and Wiggins in particular.
 
Nov 17, 2009
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He had a strong race and definitely suprised me as to what he did. I thought he'd likely crack somewhat toward the end and it didn't happen.

But I still think a fair comparison would be Leipheimer more then anyone else. Maybe not so much for his temperment (he seems to be willing to attack a bit more), but rather his ability.

Leipheimer had a few years where he seriously competed for GT honors (2007 Tour when he finished 3rd behind AC and Cadel, 2008 Vuelta when he was 2nd behind AC), but for the most part he was more of a top 10 guy who wasn't ever seriously in comptition for a top spot.

That's what I expcect at this point. When he hits his peak, if the course favors him like this one he can compete for a GT win. If it's a bit less TT heavy, he'll be a top 10 guy who won't really be in contention for a win. I DO think he'll probably be able to win a few more 1-week races then Leipheimer due to his willingness to attack. Give him a one week race with some good climbs and a good sized ITT and he'll have a shot.
 
kurtinsc said:
He had a strong race and definitely suprised me as to what he did. I thought he'd likely crack somewhat toward the end and it didn't happen.

But I still think a fair comparison would be Leipheimer more then anyone else. Maybe not so much for his temperment (he seems to be willing to attack a bit more), but rather his ability.

Leipheimer had a few years where he seriously competed for GT honors (2007 Tour when he finished 3rd behind AC and Cadel, 2008 Vuelta when he was 2nd behind AC), but for the most part he was more of a top 10 guy who wasn't ever seriously in comptition for a top spot.

That's what I expcect at this point. When he hits his peak, if the course favors him like this one he can compete for a GT win. If it's a bit less TT heavy, he'll be a top 10 guy who won't really be in contention for a win. I DO think he'll probably be able to win a few more 1-week races then Leipheimer due to his willingness to attack. Give him a one week race with some good climbs and a good sized ITT and he'll have a shot.

That would be the most logical evolution of his career. But there's always the 'you-knever-know' part. Leipheimer did come within a minute of winning the Tour...
Van Garderen might have that 1 'jackpot' year where everything goes his way. Like how Sastre and Evans won the Tour, regular top 10/top 5 contenders but never close to winning due to something... and then...
 
Nov 17, 2009
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Dekker_Tifosi said:
That would be the most logical evolution of his career. But there's always the 'you-knever-know' part. Leipheimer did come within a minute of winning the Tour...
Van Garderen might have that 1 'jackpot' year where everything goes his way. Like how Sastre and Evans won the Tour, regular top 10/top 5 contenders but never close to winning due to something... and then...

I agree... Leipheimer had two chances where his form was such that he could have won. The 2007 Tour and 2008 Vuelta. It just didnt' happen.

Evans had a few more... The 2007 Tour, 2008 Tour, 2009 Vuelta and of course the 2011 Tour. All of those were "potential" wins... where his form was good enough but circumstances didn't quite work out that way. If Van Garderen gets that many chances I'll frankly be pleasantly suprised. Cadel (even in his earlier years such as the 2005 Tour where he finished 8th) seemed a bit stronger uphill. Of course Van Garderen IS still very young... he may grow to a higher level then what I expect.

But a Leipheimer level talent is still great, especially if TJVG stays aggressive in his riding style rather then defensive like Leipheimer.
 

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