Vuelta a España - Tejay Van Garderen: We are heading in the right direction
Aug 24 2017 12:18 am CET
SUBSCRIBE TO RSS FEEDSTejay van Garderen lost a few seconds at the end of the fifth stage of the Vuelta a España but remains at just ten seconds from Chris Froome in the overall standings.
The American of BMC Racing Team couldn't keep up with Froome (Sky), Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo), Michael Woods (Cannondale-Drapac) and Esteban Chaves (Orica-Scott) in the last meters of the final climb, but limited the damage to defend his second place in the general classification.
The rider understood that the success of the day's breakaway (Alexey Lutsenko won the stage) suited Team Sky and race leader Froome.
"You never know on days like today," he said about the escape groupe's chances. "As long as it's the right composition, the breakaway always has a chance. I think Sky was happy to let the bonus seconds slip away because (Chris) Froome was only two seconds away with the jersey."
The final climb was categorized as a category 3 due to its short length, but Van Garderen believes that the ascent deserves a higher category than that. "This is certainly a category two climb on my book, if not a climb 1," he said.
"Today we just really wanted to stay safe, we had Rohan and the guys to lead us to the climb and put us in a good position and definitely that saves some energy in the first couple of kilometres. It is a pity I slipped there a bit in the final but I'm there to keep fighting day by day, and we are heading on the right direction."
