Tejay Van Garderen enjoyed a nearly perfect beginning of the 2014 season as Chris Froome (Team Sky) was the only rider able to surpass the young American at the Tour of Oman in February. His spring campaign was a tale of mixed fortunes, as promising performances of the BMC captain were entwined with those marred by illness and crashes, however, the 25-year old is full of confidence ahead of his season’s biggest objective as he lines-up at the Criterium du Dauphine, the dress rehearsal for the Tour de France.

 

Van Garderen’s performance at the Tour of Oman was a very positive surprise, and the 25-year old American confirmed that he took his preparations during the winter break very seriously as a podium spot in the Middle-East event was followed by third place at the Volta a Catalunya with a queen stage taken in the process and sixth place at the Vuelta al Pais Vasco.

 

"That stage was a big confidence boost for me and the team. I've shown that I can fight hard in the mountains, and I have a good time trial to back it up. But it was always me being on the tail end of things trying not to lose time, then making my move in the time trial... now they saw maybe I can climb with those guys. It also shows I've progressed as a rider and am a more complete rider. I think that bodes well for the confidence the team's going to have working for me in July," Van Garderen reflected on the Volta a Catalunya queen stage, his first ever victory at the WorldTour level.

 

Spring campaign of the young BMC captain was far from a perfection, however, as the 25-year old rider was forced to withdraw from Paris-Nice and Tour de Romandie due to illness and crash suffered in the prologue respectively. Nonetheless, Van Garderen insists that those setbacks weren’t able to shatter his preparations towards the Tour de France since he has build a strong foundation for his summer performances during the last winter break.

 

"I've put the spring behind me. I've had some good results that I'm proud of, and a couple races that didn't go so well, but if you look at everyone's spring, they always have a little up and down. It's like two separate seasons - the spring and then the build up to the Tour. I don't think any of those setbacks from the spring are going to have any effect on how the Tour de France is going to be raced.

 

American rider returned home to recover from Tour de Romandie crash and participated in the altitude training camp in Aspen before returning to Europe for the dress rehearsal for the Tour de France, the star-studded Criterium du Dauphine kicking off this Sunday.

 

"We want to treat it as a dress rehearsal for the Tour de France," Van Garderen said ahead of the race this week. "I'll definitely be going for as high a GC place as possible, try to test my limits a little bit, and make sure the team is all working well together."

 

Even though BMC suffered a truly disastrous Tour de France last year, Van Garderen was the only rider of the American team who managed to break the anonymity when he featured in day’s early breakaway and fought for a victory on the double-Alpe d’Huez stage, eventually beaten by Christophe Riblon (Ag2r La Mondiale).

 

"I still live with that," Van Garderen lamented, "because your name goes into the history books if you win on Alpe d'Huez, and I may never get another opportunity like that again, [to win] on such a famed climb. But - you have to put that behind you and move forward and use it as motivation."

 

The 25-year old American will be provided with an opportunity to lead the team in the French grand tour for the first time this year, and he claims to be ready to make up for last year’s disappointments.

 

"I'm confident in my ability to be a Tour de France contender," he said, but a series of misfortunes last year prevented him from showing his abilities. "Last year things just started falling apart. I didn't have any trouble all season, I was always on the podium in every race I did, then all of a sudden, everything unravelled at the Tour at the worst time to have that happen."

 

Like most of the Tour de France general classification contenders, also Van Garderen previewed some of its key stages and agreed that feared fifth stage from Ypres to Arenberg is going to be a brutal affair. While he is planning to limit his losses on Paris-Roubaix cobbles, the 25-year old is confident that a team made of splendid classics specialists will lead him safely through all the tricky obstacles.

 

"I'm feeling confident for it. I have a different goal than if I was lining up at Paris-Roubaix. My goal on that stage is to not lose any time. I'm not racing against Tom Boonen or Fabian Cancellara, I'm racing against Chris Froome and Alberto Contador, and I think my chances on a stage like that are not any worse than theirs. Perhaps, even better since we have such a strong Classics team and we're bringing Greg Van Avermaet, Michael Schar and Marcus Burghardt, they've raced plenty of Paris-Roubaixs. They'll be keen to protect me and get me in a good position that day."

 

Following his great performances in spring classics and the Tour of California, Van Garderen’s close friend Taylor Phinney was expected to be just another cobbles specialist to back the 25-year old in his Tour campaign. The BMC captain will be forced to do without him, however, as Phinney crashed during the national championships road race and broke his leg.

 

"It was upsetting news about Taylor. Seeing the form he was on in California and at nationals, I was texting with him saying he's punching his ticket for the Tour de France, and I was excited to have him there. He's one of my best friends, I thought, 'great, we'll have another American there, he'll probably be my roommate, and we'll have a clown at the table to make us all laugh and raise the team spirit. Then to get that news, it was a pretty big blow. I've been in touch with Taylor and his family, it sounds like he's doing well and he's motivated. He's not going to let this beat him."