Tejay van Garderen expects many attacks at sixth stage of Tour of California
May 18 2018 06:39 pm CET
Photo of Tejay Van Garderen © Mary Cárdenas / CyclingPub.com
Tejay van Garderen of BMC Racing Team remains in the leader's jersey of the Tour of California with just two stages to go in the American race.
The American finished safely in the peloton at the end of stage 5, with his BMC teammates controlling the pace in the bunch during a large parte of the day.
"Today was a pretty straightforward day," Van Garderen said. "It was more about conserving energy and staying safe. It got a little hectic there in the final, and I just had to stay glued to my teammates' wheels. They did a good job protecting me, and now it's all systems go for the stage tomorrow.
The fight for the general classification will likely be decided on Saturday, with a tough stage to South Lake Tahoe awaiting the riders. The course includes no less than seven categorized climbs, including two of the first category, and finishes on a climb of the third category.
"Looking ahead to tomorrow, first of all, I think the breakaway will not roll off the line like you've seen it do the past few days," the rider predicted. "I'll bet it will be a hard breakaway to get into, just attrition-wise, and then the final climb heading up into Tahoe I expect that [Egan] Bernal and a lot of the other climbers will try to attack and win the race there."
If Van Garderen holds on to his lead on the remaining two days, he would secure his first GC victory since winning the USA Pro Cycling Challenge in 2014.
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