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.
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Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and Cycling Weekly, among other publications.
