Tejay Van Garderen eyeing podium at the Amgen Tour of California
Tejay Van Garderen of Team BMC is a strong contender for an overall victory at the Tour of California.
The cyclist has made his intentions clear and has noted that he will settle for nothing less than the top overall spot at the race.
Tejay started the race slowly and finished at the 46th spot after the first stage.
Peter Sagan of Team Liquigas-Cannondale secured the top spot with Heinrich Haussler of Team Garmin-Barracuda and Fred Rodriguez of Team Exergy achieving the next two positions.
Van is having a good season and has shown promising results during the Paris-Nice and the Tour de Romandie.
He achieved the best young rider’s jersey at the Paris-Nice and finished the race at the fifth overall position.
The 23-year-old was looking good for an overall victory at the Tour de Romandie but was unfortunately caught up in a crash.
He was hit by a flying branch right on the face and was eliminated from the race.
While commenting on the Tour de Romandie ne cited, "I had some pretty good sensations there.
“In the prologue I was unlucky to ride in the wet, and the legs weren't totally sharp there after Liege, but throughout the race I was feeling really good".
There are absolutely no doubts about Garderen’s current form and he is very much capable of bagging an overall victory at the event.
However, the cyclist might find it a little hard during the opening stages of the race as his strength is time trialling.
The Individual time trial stage 5 of the Tour of California will be an ideal opportunity for the American to improve his overall performance.
He explained, "I think it will be nervous in the early stages. I don't think we'll see any real gaps between the GC guys”.
“There will be splits in the field and if you're not attentive you can find yourself in a bad situation”.
“The real GC days will be the time trial (stage 5) and Mt. Baldy (stage 7)".
Van has received a tough training session in Europe and is certain of some positive results during the ongoing Tour of California 2012.
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