Team News – Van Garderen Third At Volta A Catalunya

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BMC’s Tejay van Garderen finished third overall in the Volta a Catalunya while teammate Marcus Burghardt was runner-up to solo winner Lieuwe Westra (Astana Pro Team) in a rain-soaked final stage.

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Team News – Van Garderen Third At Volta A Catalunya

Van Garderen’s podium placing came on the strength of his Stage 4 win Thursday on one of the race’s two mountain-top finishes. It follows a runner-up result at the Tour of Oman last month.

“It was really a successful week,” van Garderen said. “I had no idea how my form was going to be coming into it after the setback I had before Paris-Nice. I stayed confident and the team showed a lot of confidence in me. They all rode really well.”

“I think we have the momentum back and we’re looking forward to the next race, which is Pays Basque.” Van Garderen tried an attack on the final climb of eight laps of a circuit in Barcelona, but could not distance himself from the peloton and finished 14th on the day. In the final standings, he was seven seconds behind race winner Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha Team) and three seconds behind runner-up Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo).

Burghardt was part of a group of 13 riders that broke away six kilometers into the 115-km race that saw the circuit shortened due to the wet conditions. With three 5.6-km laps to go, Westra attacked the breakaway and no one could follow.

Burghardt out-sprinted Thomas Voeckler (Team Europcar) at the line 82 seconds after Westra’s arrival to earn his best finish since winning two stages in three days at the Tour de Suisse in June of 2010. “It was important for us to put someone in the break in case we needed some help for Tejay in the final,” Burghardt said.

“We got a good gap and then I got a chance to ride for the victory. Westra was really the strongest on the climb. Second place was the maximum; it was already hard with three other climbers in the group. So I am happy with second place and pretty confident for Flanders next week.”

Burghardt registered half of the BMC Racing Team’s six top 10 finishes of the race and also figured in a more-than-135-km breakaway on Stage 5.

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