Vande Velde praises Talansky for fighting on at the Tour de France

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"Suffering in a race and fighting on is a very humbling experience"

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Andrew Talansky holds off the broom wagon to finish stage 11 inside the time cut(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

Christian Vande Velde has told Cyclingnews that he can empathize with his fellow American and former Garmin-Sharp teammate Andrew Talansky after he fought the pain caused by his crashes to somehow finish stage 11 to Oyannax.

He served a six-month ban for doping after confessing and collaborating with the USADA investigation into Lance Armstrong and the US Postal Service team but returned to ride the 2013 Tour de France in his final season.

He failed to reach Paris one last time after crashing for a second time on stage seven after riding with a severe back pain and a blood clot following a crash on stage five.

Stephen Farrand
Stephen Farrand
Editor-at-large

Stephen is one of the most experienced members of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. Before becoming Editor-at-large, he was Head of News at Cyclingnews. He has previously worked for Shift Active Media, Reuters and Cycling Weekly. He is a member of the Board of the Association Internationale des Journalistes du Cyclisme (AIJC).