(Pic from Velonews)
With a few Grand Tours under his belt and a win in the Tour of Austria this year Tom Danielson is quietly building a good resume as a GC contender. While Discovery Channel were flailing away at the Tour de France wishing that Lance Armstrong never retired, Danielson was winning the Tour of Austria. This was perhaps a glimmer into the future GC contender for Dscovery Channel. At the Vuelta, Danielson will be the one guy that the Discos can pin all of their hopes on. Disco does best when they have one rider to focus on instead of four galloping horses contending for leadership.
Plus, with a stage one team time trial, Discovery Channel might have a chance to right the ship after a season of frustration.
This year’s Vuelta look to be good for climbers. Five mountaintop finishes and assorted stages should make things easier for the guys who like to go fast uphill. Danielson is a gifted climber and is hoping to build on his win in Austria with a high placing in the Vuelta.
Danielson has also focused on his time trialing ability something that the Disco team has a certain amount of expertise. He chnaged his position slightly to give him a lower front end and has been riding the TT bike often to get used to the position and the effort.
With a good mix of time trialing and climbing Danielson has all the tools needed to impove upon his eigth place of a year ago. If you look at the results only Carlos Sastre and Denis Menchov are the only riders that placed higher than Danielson last year and are competeing this year. Others such asSevilla, Heras and Mancebo are out due to Operation Puerto and EPO bust. Others are not riding since Communidad Valencianna are not allowed to ride the Vuelta. Seeing that Sastre and Menchov could be less sharp since they rode the Tour, Danielson has a very serious chance at a podium spot or overall victory. Just hope he does not resort to any testosterone patches like ‘ol Floyd if the going gets tough.
Velonews Interview with Danielson
Paolo Savoldelli kept his Maglia Rosa in an Armstrong like stage 1 performance. Il Falco scorched the field by 11 seconds over a 6.5 km circuit which is a large margin. Paolo Looks to be defending his Giro win from last year, but the course, especially the last week of the Giro does not suit his skill. Il Falco is more of an all round rider, not a pure climber like Rujano, Simoni and others.
At the start of the Giro Saunier Duval’s Pietro Algieri and Gilberto Simoni both started pointing to Tom Danielson as a dangerous rider. He is playing support to Paolo Savoldelli, but there isn’t much word on his official role on the team. When Danielson is mentioned, it is not so much as a supporter, but someone who will race his own race. This makes complete sense since the last week of the Giro is well suited to the Disco Climber.
Interestingly Giro commentator David Cassani is playing down Danielson’s chances saying that he is a rider who performs well in the US but not so wel in Europe. They also said that he started road cycling late in his career and cannot be considered a young rider any longer. Cassani might be forgetting his 8th place in the Vuelta. It is not a win, but it is a decent enough result.
Sorry, this title had to be used at some point. The Tour of California starts Sunday with a prologue Time Trial in San Francisco that sweeps along the Embarcadero and finishes at the famous Coit Tower. The first edition of the hopefully long running Tour of California will kick off with plenty of American riders willing to take the first win.
Velonews has a bit of history about the Tour of California along with news that Amgen will sponsor the race for 5 years.
CSC has lots to gain from this race since the title sponsor CSC is based in El Segundo, Cailfornia. David Zabriske is one of the CSC men who is most “on form” at the moment. He beat Ivan Basso up the Mont Serra climb in Italy a few weeks ago. That climb wasn’t simply a ride up the mountain, but a CSC free-for-all where each rider tested their fitness. Ivan Basso actually bettered his time from last year. The surprise came from David Zabriske who beat his team captain. Zabriske’s form is sharp ealry this year presumably to have a strong showing in California.
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