From Cycling News

http://www.cyclingnews.com/

Team HTC-Columbia manager Rolf Aldag has confirmed that Tejay Van Garderen will start the Vuelta a España but says the young American will race without any obligation to finish the race.

“The Vuelta will be a learning process for Tejay,” Aldag told Cyclingnews. “We have to be careful with a young rider like him. There was a lot of internal discussion in the team about whether or not to send him to the Vuelta. Of course he wants to show himself, but it’s a grand Tour, it’s three weeks of racing and we don’t want to kill him.”

Van Garderen has impressed throughout his first season with HTC-Columbia. He was third at the Criterium du Dauphiné in June and has just finished fourth at the Tour de l’Ain race in France.

Aldag said that the 22-year-old American will ride the Vuelta primarily to gain experience. “The most important thing is that he doesn’t come out of the Vuelta with the impression that he can’t do a race like that,” he explained. “Tejay will have the freedom to do everything, and that includes quitting the race after ten days if he feels tired.”

Van Garderen surprised many with his strong showing at the Criterium du Dauphiné but for Aldag, the most pleasing aspect of the American’s year has not been his peaks so much as his lack of troughs. Unusually for such a young rider, Van Garderen has ridden consistently throughout his debut season with HTC-Columbia.

“It’s surprising how stable he’s been the whole season. Often a young, talented rider will perform well, race on a good level for a little bit and then disappear, but not Tejay,” Aldag said. “He started off well at the Volta ao Algarve and just continued from there. Obviously to finish third at the Dauphiné at that age is pretty unusual, but he’s a rider with that kind of potential. It’s his continuity that’s been the surprising part.”

Before joining HTC-Columbia, Van Garderen rode for the Rabobank Continental Team for two seasons as well as competing for the USA Under-23 team. Aldag credits this experience as helping with his fluid transition to ProTour racing.