Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Cyclingnews.com: Danielson Building Form
By Richard Tyler
American Tom Danielson (Garmin-Slipstream) has already experienced his fair share of bad luck this season. Speaking to Cyclingnews the day before finishing the Giro d'Italia in 78th place, Danielson hoped to have turned the corner in what has been a disrupted season.
"It was okay, but it was a difficult stage for sure," said Danielson of the Giro's stage 19 finish atop Mount Vesuvius. "All day it was really up and down and along the coast, it was quite stressful with a lot of fighting for positions. Really, the whole peloton had to ride hard for most of the day. The last climb was obviously very challenging, a big climb pretty steep in sections and pretty unforgiving, so I was happy, I went up steady."
Danielson admitted that he was lucky to be included in the Garmin-Slipstrean team for the Italian race, having been struck down by a parasitic infection in April. "I got behind a little bit," he said. "I got quite sick with giardia. I was supposed to do Pais Vasco, but I got sick there so obviously I fell behind in my preparation. I was fortunate enough that the team took me to the race here even though I wasn't 100 percent."
The American thus focused on working for his team and rebuilding his form. "I worked hard for the team," he continued. "I gave my all in the team time trial and then I gave my all in the sprint stages for Tyler [Farrar], so I was just really happy to be here doing that stuff. At the end of the race I was told I could go up the climbs a little bit faster so I just went at my own pace trying to build form for the future."
The Giro d'Italia was a mixed race for Garmin-Slipstream. A narrow loss in the race's opening team time trial to rival American squad Columbia-Highroad and the stage three exit of team leader Christian Vande Velde were contrast with the consistent performances of sprinter Tyler Farrar and a third-place finish for Danny Pate on stage 18. "The morale is good, it's a great group of guys. Obviously it's disappointing to lose Christian and hopefully he's okay but in terms of the other guys I think everyone's improving. Danny [Pate] did a good performance, he's in a good mood and the staff are in a good mood so the morale's quite high," said Danielson of the feeling amongst the Garmin-Slipstream squad.
His next race will be the Tour de Suisse. The American remains unsure whether his improving form will be enough to secure a place on his team's Tour de France line-up. "I just try to look at it race by race. My next race is the Tour de Suisse. I can't even think about that [the Tour de France] right now," said Danielson.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Tom continues to gain strength in grueling Giro d'Italia
After Stage 19, Tom had this to say...
“I just wanted to ride a good pace up the last climb and build my fitness. It was a really crazy stage with a very dangerous run-in to the climb. Cobbles, cars, dogs, holes, and people running into the road made for a very scary approach to the line.”
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Giro: Danielson delighted with American rivals' successes
By Jean-Francois Quenet in Milan, Italy
from cyclingnews.com:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2009/may09/may18news
It's something special to see Lance Armstrong and Tom Danielson riding in the same peloton again at the Giro d'Italia although none of the two really occupies the top spots of the classification. Four years ago, Danielson and Armstrong were Discovery Channel teammates during the famous stage five of the Tour of Georgia to Brasstown Bald Mountain. A few days after Armstrong announced his coming retirement, he encouraged Danielson to drop their rival Floyd Landis who had left them for Phonak. Clearly, Armstrong showed with his finger that his designated successor was Danielson, not Landis. Danielson went on to win that year's Tour of Georgia.
Danielson, however, wasn't at the start of the 2006 Tour de France with Discovery Channel. Instead, Danielson won stage 17 and finished 6th overall at the Vuelta a España. Now 29, the winner of the 2002 Tour of Qhingai Lakes and the 2003 Le Tour de Langkawi is yet to make his debut at the Tour de France.
"For now I have to take the Giro day by day," Danielson told Cyclingnews on Piazza del Duomo at the start of stage nine. "My goal is to finish it after giving everything for the team time trial [where his team Garmin-Slipstream finished in second place behind Team Columbia-Highroad, ed.]. Now we race for Tyler Farrar to win a stage. My other goal is to go back to my race weight, I'm not at 100% yet."
Although a little bit overweight, the man from Colorado looked happy to be back in good spirits without the troubles endured in the past few years. This is primarily thanks to Jonathan Vaughters, Garmin-Slipstream's team manager.. "We are pretty similar, he helps me out with advice in a lot of areas", said Danielson of Vaughters who has also become his personal coach this year.
Danielson feels no jealousy towards the successes of his compatriots. About Armstrong's come back, he said, "It's great! It's amazing when you see him attracting all these crowds at the Tour of California and the Giro d'Italia. He makes the races bigger and better. Luckily they have him in the Astana team right now, he's the man to attract sponsorship to resolve their financial problems. I hope it will save the team."
He also appreciated what Team Columbia-Highroad, Garmin-Slipstream's rival American team, achieved so far at the Giro d'Italia. "It's great to see a team with such a good message doing so well. It's an inspiration for all of us."