BMC Racing Team's Tejay van Garderen placed third overall at Critérium International and won best young rider honours after finishing fifth in the final rainy, mountainous stage Sunday.
Van Garderen's performance added to his runner-up finish at the Tour de San Luis in January and fourth place earlier this month at Paris-Nice. "I wouldn't say I had any real objectives coming into this race," van Garderen said. "It would have been nice to get a stage win – maybe in the time trial – but I'm happy." Van Garderen received good support from several teammates on the final climb – including Mathias Frank, who was in a three-man breakaway – but was unable to match several attacks in the last km of the 176 km race.
The first, by IAM Cycling's Johann Tschopp, was followed by Chris Froome, who soloed to the stage win and the overall win. Froome's Sky Procycling teammate, Richie Porte, who won the time trial, countered with an attack of his own to place second on the stage and second overall. Van Garderen wound up 54 seconds behind in the overall standings. "Sky is obviously very strong and we are obviously going to have to step our game up if we're going to be competitive with them," van Garderen said.
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