Alameda Runners – Get After It!

Tejay van Garderen won the overall general classification of the 2013 Tour of California, and was seemingly in control from the start of the race in SoCal to the finish in Northern California.

The ToC GC win is van Garderen’s first major stage-race win of his young career, and shows his overall long-term potential.

van Garderen was able to capture the individual time trial (ITT) stage win at stage 6, solidifying his lead on the leader’s jersey.  During stage 7 from Livermore to Mt. Diablo, van Garderen was able to defend against all attacks and keep his lead.

Overall, van Garderen won by 1:47 over Saxo-Tinkoff’s Michael Rogers and 3:26 ahead of Jamis-Hagens Berman’s Javier Acevedo in third place.

Professional road cycling in the United States has gone through a recent rough patch, as Lance Armstrong and his former long-time teammates admitted to doping.

Despite the bump in the road for US cycling, it looks like BMC’s van Garderen is ready to become the next big thing in US cycling.  Van Garderen recently won the 2013 Tour of California GC in solid fashion, never truly out of sorts throughout the stage race.

Last year, van Garderen finished 5^th overall in the Tour de France and Paris-Nice, winning the white jersey of the young rider classification chase.