Americans Abroad: Van Garderen fifth in Catalunya

Welcome to this week’s edition of “Americans Abroad,” our weekly check-in with the American riders in the professional peloton. VeloNews will publish these updates every Monday throughout the season

Tejay van Garderen wrapped up an important early season test at Volta a Catalunya in fifth place, racing against some of the top Tour de France riders, including Chris Froome, Alberto Contador, Nairo Quintana, and Fabio Aru. Quintana won the race, seven seconds ahead of Alberto Contador, and a further 27 seconds ahead of BMC’s Van Garderen.

“We walk away happy. It would have been nice to be on the podium, but in the end we have two riders in the top-five on GC so I think we showed our form and what we can do as a team,” said BMC sports director Yvon Ledanois about van Garderen and Richie Porte’s performances in Spain.

Van Garderen’s best result of the week was a fourth place in stage 4, from Girona to the top of La Molina, where he finished two seconds behind stage winner Daniel Martin, alongside Contador and Romain Bardet.

Brent Bookwalter (BMC)

Bookwalter was one of van Garderen’s domestiques in Catalunya. After helping his team leaders, Bookwalter was 53rd overall.

Ian Boswell (Sky)

Boswell raced in Catalunya, but he was unable to finish stage 4 and abandoned the race. Prior to abandoning, Boswell was 79th overall.

Nathan Brown (Cannondale)

The 24-year-old Cannondale rider was 46th overall in Catalunya.

Chris Butler (Cycling Academy)

Butler was one of the Continental pros riding in Italy at the four-stage Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali race, where he finished 31st overall.

Lawson Craddock (Cannondale)

Lawson Craddock was the leader for Cannondale in France at the Critérium International. The 24-year-old finished sixth on the general classification and third in the best young rider classification. He shined on the mountainous second day, finishing sixth on the uphill finish.

Joe Dombrowski (Cannondale)

Dombrowski finished 37th overall in Catalunya, where he was racing in support of Rigoberto Uran, who was 10th overall. Dombrowski was eighth in the best young rider competition.

Caleb Fairly (Giant – Alpecin)

Caleb Fairly raced Critérium International in France, but he withdrew from the race during Sunday’s third stage, which climbed the Col de l’Ospedale.

Tyler Farrar (Dimension Data)

Farrar did double-duty at the one-day classics in Belgium. Farrar was 83rd overall at E3 Harelbeke. He also raced Sunday at Gent- Wevelgem, finishing 80th.

Phil Gaimon (Cannondale)

Critérium International was Gaimon’s best race since returning to the WorldTour peloton this season. He finished 11th overall, thanks to an 11th-place finish at the top of the Col de l’Ospedale Sunday.

Megan Guarnier (Boels – Dolmans)

Guarnier and her Boels – Dolmans team’s dominance in the Women’s WorldTour continued at Gent-Wevelgem. While helping her teammate Chantal Blaak win the race, Guarnier came in 11th, finishing 1:32 behind Blaak. The Tour of Flanders is up next for Guarnier, April 3.

Chad Haga (Giant – Alpecin)

Haga raced for the first time this season following the devastating crash his team suffered in January. He finished Critérium International in 22nd overall.

Alex Howes (Cannondale)

Howes had a good week in Spain, getting into the breakaway on two occasions, stages 2 and 3 of Volta a Catalunya. His efforts on stage 2 allowed him to cross the line 40th on the day. Overall, he finished 108th.

Carter Jones (Giant – Alpecin)

Jones raced in France with Fairly and Haga, where he came in 56th overall. Up next for Jones is the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco April 4.

Ben King (Cannondale)

King came back from an off-season injury and raced in Catalunya. He finished 112th overall, and said that he was happy to be back racing with his teammates.

Flat out everyday. Suffered like a dog. But moving in the right direction and so happy to be back with the @Ride_Argyle dudes.

— Ben King (@BenKing89) March 27, 2016

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Taylor Phinney (BMC)

Team BMC’s American time trialist and classics rider had his best result of the season at Gent-Wevelgem, finishing 33rd overall, 5:08 behind winner Peter Sagan. Phinney stays in Belgium for the next week, racing Driedaagse de Panne Koksijde on March 29th and the Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders) April 4.

Rally Cycling

The Rally team participated in Coppi e Bartali and brought five Americans: Jesse Anthony, Evan Huffman, Eric Young, Tom Zirbel, and Danny Pate all made the trip to Italy, but only Huffman and Pate finished all 4 stages. Pate was 63rd overall and Huffman was 79th overall. The team was second in the team time trial, 12 seconds behind Russian team Gazprom – RusVelo, which won the event.

Kiel Reijnen (Trek – Segafredo)

The 29-year-old sprinter was 114th overall in Spain. His top result was sixth in stage 2. Reijnen will stay in Spain this week, racing the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco.

Coryn Rivera (UnitedHealthcare)

Rivera came in 41st overall in Belgium and was the fourth American to finish. She was 5:15 behind Blaak, in a large group that contained fellow Americans Alexis Ryan and Allie Dragoo.

Alexis Ryan (Canyon – SRAM)

Alexis Ryan finished Gent-Wevelgem in 28th place. Ryan will race the Tour of Flanders next weekend.

Carmen Small (Cervelo – Bigla)

Small was the top American in Belgium after crossing the line in the second group, 1:24 behind Blaak. She was fifth, her best result of the season.

Peter Stetina (Trek – Segafredo)

Stetina continued his Spanish stint this week at the Volta a Catalunya, where he finished 76th overall. He will remain in Spain next week for the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco, but will return to American soil in May for the Amgen tour of California.

Allison Tetrick (Cylance)

Tetrick finished 84th at Gent-Wevelgem.

Tibo – SVB

Team Tibco – SVB took a collection of women to Flanders Fields for Gent-Wevelgem. Lauren Hall, Lauren Komanski, Lauren Stephens, and Brianna Walle were in attendance, with all but Hall finishing the race. Komanksi was 85th, Stephens was 54th, and Walle was 55th.

Twenty16 – Sho-Air

Twenty16 brought four American women to Belgium as well; Allie Dragoo, Leah Thomas, Jessica Cerra, and Kaitlin Antonneau, all of whom finished. Dragoo was the best placed of the bunch, in 43rd. Thomas was 79th, Cerra was 82nd, and Antonneau was 80th. This was the team’s second race of the year, and next they take on the Tour of Flanders.

Alexey Vermeulen (LottoNL – Jumbo)

Vermeulen raced Volta a Catlunya, and will stay in Spain for the Vuelta al Pais Vasco April 4. in Catalunya, he was 97th overall.

Larry Warbasse (IAM)

Warbasse, the lone American on the IAM squad, was 38th overall in Catalunya.