Van Garderen Withdraws from Paris-Nice 2014
Van Garderen explained he may have picked up a stomach bug on his flight from Nice to Paris on Friday.
"At night, I had all these stomach cramps, and bad diarrhea all day yesterday and then a little bit of a fever and no appetite," van Garderen said.
"It felt like my sickness was getting better and today, I woke up and I felt OK. But I was really just empty. I couldn't take in calories and just had nothing in the muscles."
Team BMC Racing doctor Max Testa said despite the illness, van Garderen was motivated to compete in the race he finished fourth in last year. "But you can't race without fuel," Doctor Testa said. "I think the combination of dehydration and low glycogen in his muscles forced him to stop. Hopefully, he will recover in a couple of days."
Commenting on van Garderen's racing program, BMC Racing Team President Jim Ochowicz said it may be adjusted to compensate for the lost days of competition due to his exit from Paris-Nice. The next scheduled race on van Garderen's 2014 racing program is Volta Ciclista a Catalunya in Spain from March 24th-30th.
