Van Garderen: Maybe I'm a four out of five star rider for the Tour de France
American believes he and Porte can continue working well together
Tejay van Garderen's trajectory to the Tour de France has followed a similar path to last year, with the American impressing in several early season races, but as he tells Cyclingnews, the Tour remains the main objective.
Having finished second overall in the Ruta del Sol and backing that up with fifth in the Volta a Catalunya, the 27-year-old American is understandably optimistic about his Tour chances. The signing of Richie Porte from Team Sky, he says is an advantage, and with his tail up, van Garderen heads into this week's Tour of Romandie full of confidence.
Perhaps the only blemish on van Garderen's 2016 CV came at Tirreno-Adriatico, where an untimely mechanical and the cancellation of the queen stage saw him lose any chance of finishing near the top of the overall standings.
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Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.