Tejay van Garderen

Tejay van Garderen at the Volta a Catalunya 2019 (Ramos/Getty Images)

Nationality: American
Date of birth: August 12, 1988
Height: 185cm
Weight: 70kg
Team: EF Education First
Twitter: @tejay_van

Tejay van Garderen is an American rider for BMC Racing, and is best known for his time trialing and climbing ability.

Tejay van Garderen: career to date

After placing fifth in the 2012 and 2014 editions of the Tour de France, van Garderen was considered one of America’s strongest grand tour contenders.

As a junior rider, van Garderen won national titles in nearly every discipline away from the track, taking time trial, criterium, road race and cyclocross crowns.

A professional career came calling at the age of 19 in 2008, when he joined the Rabobank Continental Team and won a stage of the Tour de l’Avenir that year.

The WorldTour then beckoned, with HTC-Columbia taking on van Garderen in 2010, where he mainly played a support role to more senior riders. When he was given his chance to lead though, he showed his talent, taking third place at the 2010 Critérium du Dauphiné.

After HTC ceased to exist, van Garderen moved on to BMC in 2012, showing good form in that year’s Paris-Nice before he first showed signs that he could be a Tour contender after claiming the best young rider classification in the 2012 race, which was won by Bradley Wiggins.

The following year he only achieved 45th position after winning the Tour of California, but returned in 2014 and once again finished fifth.

After the retirement of 2011 Tour winner Cadel Evans from the BMC Racing team, the way was clear for van Garderen to assume full team leadership at the 2015 Tour. A second place finish at the Dauphiné behind Chris Froome (Team Sky) bode well for his chances, and he rode well in the opening week, with BMC taking the team time trial stage victory.

Jersey winners on podium, Tour de france 2012, stage 20

Tejay van Garderen (right) on the podium of the 2012 Tour de France

However, an untimely illness saw van Garderen forced to withdraw on stage 17 while in third position overall.

BMC provided some competition for van Garderen for the team leadership in 2016, signing climber Richie Porte from Team Sky to improve the team’s strength with a dual assault at the Tour.

Unfortunately 2016 was another disappointing year for the van Garderen, as he again fell ill at the Tour de France, winding up finishing 29th overall.

He also performed poorly at the Vuelta a España, apparently putting little effort into the race, eventually abandoning on stage 17 while sitting 95th overall.

Kicking off the 2017 season, van Garderen was expected to lead BMC racing at the Giro d’Italia, leaving conquest of the Tour de France with Porte. However, the team’s initial plan showed van Gardern sharing the responsibility with Rohan Dennis.

Things changed after Stage 3 saw the Australian teammate lose five minutes following a hefty crash. Van Gaderen took on the mantle solo, winning stage 18 and finishing 20th overall.

He later said he was keen to make another attempt on a Grand Tour GC soon. 

He moved to EF Education First in 2019. He had a stellar performance at the Critérium du Dauphiné, finishing 2nd overall. He also finished 9th overall at the Tour of California.

2020 should see him set his eyes on a solid result at the Giro and the Tour.

 

Major results: Young rider classification 2012 Tour de France | 2013 Tour of California | 2013 and 2014 USA Pro Cycling Challenge

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