Tooele • Tejay Van Garderen is out of contention for the yellow jersey at the Tour of Utah. He’s come to terms with that.
But as the 23-year-old HTC rider showed Friday evening, he’s not going to stop riding as hard as he can.
“I was disappointed a few days ago when I fell out of that top group,” Van Garderen said. “But I thought, ‘Maybe I could get fifth place, or maybe win best young rider.’ But that wasn’t enough, and I figured I don’t care anymore if I waste a little bit of energy trying to win a stage.”
So, for his birthday, Van Garderen claimed the Stage 3 time trial at Miller Motorsports Park, beating out defending tour champion Levi Leipheimer by six seconds. Leipheimer was able to take the yellow jersey with his performance, but Van Garderen couldn’t have been happier after winning a stage on his birthday.
“It’s absolutely a big deal — some of the best time trialists in the world are here,” he said. “When Levi was coming in, I just looked at the clock, and when I saw it hit 17:34, I knew I had won.”
Leipheimer came up second in the stage for the second year in a row, but he claimed the evening’s big prize by taking a 27-second lead over the field. Gobernacion de Antioquia racer Sergio Luis Henao Montoya was the overall leader entering the day but fell back to fourth with an 18:48.
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