Even at this early point in the Vuelta a España, Tejay van Garderen has his routine down pat. Most days, he emerges promptly from the BMC bus, recovery meal in hand, and eases into the passenger seat of a team car, stealing a march on the finish town traffic and slipping away early to the evening’s hotel. Marginal gains, it seems, are not the sole preserve of the men in black.
Van Garderen may have arrived at this Vuelta understandably unsure of his form – he hadn’t raced since illness forced him out of the Tour de France in the final week, and he has never before tackled two Grand Tours in one season – but that hasn’t detracted from the rigour of his approach to the race.
The early impressions have been encouraging. Van Garderen limited his losses well on the surprisingly tough finishing climb at Caminito del Rey on Sunday, broke even at Vejer de la Frontera on Tuesday, and he wasn’t alone in conceding six seconds to Chris Froome (Sky) when the peloton split in the finishing straight at Alcalà de Guadaira on Wednesday.
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Five days into this Vuelta, van Garderen lies in 13th place overall, 56 seconds off the red jersey of Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin), but broadly in the same constituency of the contenders for the final podium in Madrid.
"I feel like I’ve recovered ok [from the Tour de France], I’m getting into the swing of things and after a couple of more days of racing, I should have my normal legs back," van Garderen told Cyclingnews in Alcalà de Guadaira. "But yeah, it’s getting there."
The opening stanza of this Vuelta is punctuated by short stages and punchy finishing climbs, which hardly rhyme with van Garderen’s qualities of endurance, but the American has by and large been attuned to the beat thus far.
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