For the first time ever, Tejay van Garderen heads into the Tour de France as sole BMC leader and the American has spent the last few weeks checking out the key stages. He is now ready for his big dress rehearsal when he leads a strong BMC team at the Criterium du Dauphiné.

Tejay van Garderen says an extended layoff from racing should not affect him as leads the BMC Racing Team at the Critérium du Dauphiné, his final tune-up before the Tour de France. Van Garderen withdrew from the Tour de Romandie early last month following a crash in its prologue. He returned to the United States to train in Colorado, then traveled back to Europe to perform reconnaissance on key stages of the Tour de France.

"My last completed, hard stage race was Pays Basque (in April), so it was a long time ago," van Garderen said. “I am not going to go to the Dauphiné with expectations to just win it easily or anything like that, especially considering the competition.

"But we want to treat it as a dress rehearsal for the Tour de France. So I will definitely be going for as high a GC (general classification) position as possible, try to test my limits a little bit, and test out the team, making sure we are all working well together."

BMC Racing Team Sporting Manager Yvon Ledanois said the roster built around van Garderen is versatile enough to support a leader and provide chances for individual success.

"The team did a good job last week at training camp and I am sure this will yield results," he said. "We have the opportunity to win stages and the first stage is a good test before we hit the climbs."

Sunday's race begins with a 10.4-kilometer individual time trial in Lyon. Of the seven stages that follow, three include uphill or mountain-top finishes.

BMC Racing Team Critérium du Dauphiné Roster (June 8-15):
Darwin Atapuma (COL), Thor Hushovd (NOR), Amaël Moinard (FRA), Dominik Nerz (GER), Peter Stetina (USA), Greg Van Avermaet (BEL), Tejay van Garderen (USA), Peter Velits (SVK).