Tejay van Garderen did ​​a great season with a success on the USA Pro Challenge, but also with the fifth place on the Tour de France. The BMC Racing Team leader back on his season that he described as the best of his career yet. 

"I would rank this as my best season ever. There were some hiccups early in the season, with my sickness at Paris-Nice, and my crash at Romandie, which led into a bad Dauphiné. There were also a lot of positives from the season. I got my first WorldTour win at Catalunya. I was able to defend at USA Pro [Challenge in Colorado]. The Tour de France was up and down, but in the end, I was very happy with that. I was second to Froome at Oman, so yeah, I am very satisfied", he told Velonews.

He began his 2014 season in the best of ways by finishing second in the Tour of Oman, just behind Chris Froome (Team Sky). On Paris-Nice, he fell ill and was unable to play his card. It bounces off the Tour of Catalonia where he won a stage. He reported to the Tour de France having the leadership and responds with this again a top 5.

"When I won at the first summit finish at Volta a Catalunya. That was on a day that was just atrocious; rain, snow, 20 kilometers of climbing, it was a legit climb. It wasn’t a win from a breakaway. I beat Quintana, Froome, Contador. I think a lot of guys saw me as a good climber who can ride tempo, but to win like that, that was important. OK, it wasn’t the Tour de France, and maybe everyone wasn’t on their best form, but to win like that, on a real summit finale, that was a big confidence boost, to show that I could climb like that against those guys."

The American rider think to progress, he needs to improve his explosiveness: "I am willing to do the work and notably my explosiveness. And other sorts of fitness work off the bike. It’s one thing to bust out sit-ups for 15 minutes, but I need to look at other ways to strengthen where I need to strengthen. Position on the bike. Diet. Things like that."