- Feb 20, 2010
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Without changing his rain jacket on the way to Suancés, Alejandro Valverde would have been on the Vuelta podium in 2008. Bad days are something that have to be accounted for. Tejay always seems to have one at present, just as a number of other contenders have before him. Valverde, without his customary bad day, would have a GT palmarès far in excess of what he has (he'd have won the Vuelta back in 2006 for one thing, and could have been in the running for the podium in 2008 without the losses of the Hautacam stage, at least after Kohl was DQed).
At the moment, "Tejay van Garderen: Grand Tour winner" doesn't sit right with me. Something strange would need to happen for that to be sensible. That said, I thought the same with regards to Hesjedal, who apart from in the 2010 Tour accumulated his palmarès just by being sort of there. Tejay is similar in my eyes. There is very little that I remember him doing; he's always there getting into the selections on the mountains, but he's very rarely animating proceedings. He does a good TT that gets him up into a good GC position, but he seldom threatens to actually win one. He was 6th in País Vasco with his best stage performance being 9th (in the TT); in Le Tour he managed 5th to Hautacam and four 6th places in stages. He has accumulated his palmarès - as a result I don't see him as the kind of dynamic rider that goes out there and gets the win. His position gains in the mountains are more where others struggle while he's comfortable than him putting pressure on his adversaries.
I know Hesjedal won a GT like that, but that was against a field of cowards who raced so defensively they nearly let Thomas de Gendt win. Scarponi even said there were stages where Hesjedal was suffering at the back of the lead group and they didn't attack because they underestimated him and thought he'd drop. From what we've seen of Quintana, Aru, Pinot, Rolland, and yes, Nibali, Froome and Contador, they're not likely to be racing like that any time soon. And that 2012 Giro was a bit of a wake up call for a few teams that had been relying on some aging stars like Basso and Scarponi. "Ryder Hesjedal is a GT winner" is still a statement I have some trouble getting my head around.
And of course, there are but 3 GTs in a year. At the moment due to skill-set Tejay winning the Vuelta is an extremely long shot, even with some of the surprise Vuelta winners we've had in recent years. And I can't see there being a field that Tejay will be the class of in the Giro or Tour anytime soon - if he DOES win one it will be one like Hesjedal's where I'm still scratching my head about how it could have happened years later.
At the moment, "Tejay van Garderen: Grand Tour winner" doesn't sit right with me. Something strange would need to happen for that to be sensible. That said, I thought the same with regards to Hesjedal, who apart from in the 2010 Tour accumulated his palmarès just by being sort of there. Tejay is similar in my eyes. There is very little that I remember him doing; he's always there getting into the selections on the mountains, but he's very rarely animating proceedings. He does a good TT that gets him up into a good GC position, but he seldom threatens to actually win one. He was 6th in País Vasco with his best stage performance being 9th (in the TT); in Le Tour he managed 5th to Hautacam and four 6th places in stages. He has accumulated his palmarès - as a result I don't see him as the kind of dynamic rider that goes out there and gets the win. His position gains in the mountains are more where others struggle while he's comfortable than him putting pressure on his adversaries.
I know Hesjedal won a GT like that, but that was against a field of cowards who raced so defensively they nearly let Thomas de Gendt win. Scarponi even said there were stages where Hesjedal was suffering at the back of the lead group and they didn't attack because they underestimated him and thought he'd drop. From what we've seen of Quintana, Aru, Pinot, Rolland, and yes, Nibali, Froome and Contador, they're not likely to be racing like that any time soon. And that 2012 Giro was a bit of a wake up call for a few teams that had been relying on some aging stars like Basso and Scarponi. "Ryder Hesjedal is a GT winner" is still a statement I have some trouble getting my head around.
And of course, there are but 3 GTs in a year. At the moment due to skill-set Tejay winning the Vuelta is an extremely long shot, even with some of the surprise Vuelta winners we've had in recent years. And I can't see there being a field that Tejay will be the class of in the Giro or Tour anytime soon - if he DOES win one it will be one like Hesjedal's where I'm still scratching my head about how it could have happened years later.
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