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Van Garderen looks to improve Tour de France form at the Critérium du Dauphiné

By Cycling News

published 4 June 2015

BMC rider pins a number on after six-week pause from racing

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Image 1 of 8

Tejay van Garderen (BMC) waits to sign in for stage 1 at Pais Vasco.(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

Tejay van Garderen (BMC)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

Tejay van Garderen takes some time to himself before getting on stage(Image credit: Sadhbh O'Shea)

Tejay van Garderen (BMC)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

Rohan Dennis (BMC) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

Sammy Sánchez (BMC)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

Daniel Oss (BMC) celebrates his KOM classification win with a bass guitar on the podium

Tejay van Garderen will be putting the finishing touches on his form for the Tour de France at the upcoming Critérium du Dauphiné from June 7 to 14 in the French Alps.

Cold weather costs van Garderen in Paris-Nice

Van Garderen not ready to panic after disappointing Paris-Nice

Volta a Catalunya: van Garderen wins queen stage

Van Garderen: I'm ahead of last year

The BMC rider, who has twice placed fifth at the Tour de France, hasn’t raced in nearly six weeks but says a combination of altitude training and course previews have put him in a good position to make his final improvements for the Tour.

"I am excited to get back into racing, as I haven't pinned a number on my back since Liège-Bastogne-Liège (April 26)," van Garderen said. "I have trained well at altitude and have done some good course reconnaissance.

“Now the race fitness is the last part of the equation in order to be ready for my main goal in July. The Dauphiné is the perfect race for this."

Van Garderen had a fair start to the season with second place on stage 4 and second overall at the Tour of Oman. He also had a top-five performance during stage 5 at Paris-Nice but a disappointing overall placing after he slipped from fourth to16th, 5:41 behind winner Richie Porte (Team Sky). He also won a stage of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya.

Van Garderen has competed in the Critérium du Dauphiné three times in the past five years. His best placing came in his debut on the WorldTour with HTC-Columbia in 2010, when he was third behind overall winner Janez Brajkovic and runner-up Alberto Contador.

At the 2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, van Garderen will be joined by his BMC teammates Rohan Dennis, Samuel Sánchez, Daniel Oss, Manuel Quinziato, Joey Rosskopf, Michael Schär and Dylan Teuns.