The fact that Samuel Sanchez and Cadel Evans are appointed to ride the Giro d’Italia in the BMC outfits this season doesn’t suggest that Tejay van Garderen would be left on his own while facing the variety of challenges at the French grand tour race, as the American team is ready to provide him with a highly reliable support.

Van Garderen is expected to be backed by the newly signed, but highly experienced and reliable riders in the likes of Darwin Atapuma, Peter Stetina or Peter Velits during his Tour the France campaign, and the Colombian climber in eager to put his own ambitions on hold while supporting the BMC lone leader.

"The plan is to be in top form to help Tejay winning,” Atapuma told VeloNews

“He will be the number one in our team. Maybe I'll get a chance to go for a stage win, but all efforts would be dedicated to Tejay."

Declarations of Stetina and Velits fall into the same spirit, as the former albeit his age has a great experience in playing the supporting role for leaders in grand tour races, as he did for Ryder Hesjedal at the Giro d’Italia 2012 edition. Finishing many three-week events throughout his career, Slovakian proved to be capable of finishing such races inside the top ten of the general classification, when he claimed a podium spot at the Vuelta a Espana in 2010.