
Alex Howes finished his second Tour de France and featured in a few breakaway moves throughout the race. Photo: Gruber Images | Cannondale – Drapac
Welcome to Americans Abroad, our weekly check-in with the American pros in the European peloton. VeloNews will publish these updates every Monday throughout the season.
With another Tour de France in the books, let’s take a look at how the race’s five Americans fared. Their final GC results are below, but that doesn’t tell the entire story.
One of the biggest highlights is Pete Stetina’s return to the world’s biggest race. Though the 28-year-old was racing for his Trek – Segafredo leader Bauke Mollema, rather than individual glory, finishing the Tour is a huge milestone for Stetina who suffered a traumatic crash and injury at the Vuelta al Pais Vasco in 2015.
[related title=”Americans Abroad” align=”right” tag=”Americans-Abroad”]
Cannondale – Drapac likely leaves France a bit disappointed after pocketing zero stage wins and seeing GC hope Pierre Rolland fall short of a top finish, but Alex Howes and Lawson Craddock both had solid rides. Howes figured in a few notable breakaways. He looks to be a stage-hunter in the making. Craddock, 24, was racing his first career Tour, and to ride all the way to Paris is an achievement for the Texan.
Tejay van Garderen and Brent Bookwalter have a bit less to crow about, in terms of individual results. However, they should be happy to see BMC teammate Richie Porte gut out a hard-fought fifth-place overall finish after some bad luck early in the race. Plus, Greg Van Avermaet won stage 5.
The 32-year-old finished 117th overall in the Tour.
In his first career Tour, Craddock finished 124th overall.
At La Course on Sunday, Hall finished 58th.
Riding his second career Tour de France, Howes ended up 131st overall.
Rivera, a top sprinter, was likely disappointed to finish 92nd at La Course. She did, however, win the final stage of Thüringen Rundfahrt on Thursday.
Ryan, 21, finished 39th at La Course.
After featuring in a dangerous late-race breakaway of three women, Stephens finished 80th at La Course.
Stetina rode to 46th overall at the Tour.
Van Garderen, twice fifth-place overall at the Tour, was likely disappointed to finish just 29th overall in Paris.
Wiles finished 93rd at La Course.
La Course was marred by several large crashes in the final 10km of racing. Five Americans did not finish the race: Brianna Walle and Kendall Ryan (Tibco), Lauren Tamayo and Katie Hall (UnitedHealthcare), and Alison Tetrick (Cylance).