The Great White Hope

The name Tom Danielson is as American as apple pie and Lance Armstrong. It's no wonder he is considered as the Texan's heir apparent not only in team DISCOVERY CHANNEL but as the continuation of America's dominance in the Tour de France.

But has the Durango, Colorado, native got the "cojones" to receive the relay baton from the 7-time tour winner and continue where Floyd Landis left off (temporarily, I hope)? Starting last Saturday and for the next three weeks, Danielson and his team are competing in the last grand tour of this year, the Vuelta a Espana (see TVE ch 64). After so much promise, this is Danielson's time to grab his destiny. But can he do it?

The 28-year old Danielson was a late bloomer in the road racing scene as he started out with mountain biking. But when the popularity of the MTB in the US hit the skids, a lot of MTB'rs moved to the road scene. This batch included Landis, Tdf KoM Michael Rasmussen, Australian Cadel Evans and Canadian Roland Green.

I first noticed Danielson in the 2003 Tour de Langkawi. In the decisive and penultimate stage to the dreaded Genting Highlands, Tom, Colombian Dario Munoz and Green had one of the most memorable battles in cycling lore. Green would be dropped 2ks from the top and Munoz would win the stage. But it was Danielson who'd won the overall and get noticed by the European peloton.

By 2004, Danielson signed up for one of the top classics team in the world, FASSA BARTOLO, with the understanding that he'd be able to ride a grand tour that year. But FASSA BAROTOLO's director sportif Giancarlo Ferreti, a director from the old school, held Danielson back with just weeks to go before each of the three grand tours. With super sprinter Alessandro Petacchi as FASSA's captain, Ferreti had no use for a skinny, rookie American as part of Ale-Jet's lead out train.

If the jilted rider had been named Lance or Greg, they would have raised hell. But not Danielson. He never criticized the FASSA organization, even if what had been done to him was an injustice. And this attitude led him to being labeled as soft. I even think that Tom's handlers' are over-packaging him as a super nice guy to the detriment of his salability.

By 2005, staying with FASSA wasn't an option. (If you remember, Ivan Basso rode with FASSA before Bjarne Riis coaxed his talent in team CSC.)

To the surprise of everyone, America's team, DISCOVERY CHANNEL, was able to sign him. With Armstrong to announce later that year that he'd be retiring, Danielson's signing was perfect. Or was it?

Danielson started the year by winning the Tour of Georgia with Lance acting as his domestique. But he would quit the Giro d'Italia in May due to knee injury. That kept him from the valuable experience when his teammate, Paolo Savoldelli, would win the Giro that year.

By September, he would ride the Vuelta as a domestique and would end up 8th in GC. It was obvious that while he could climb and TT, his stamina was wanting in the later part of the race.

This year, he had a better preparation that got him a 6th place in the Tour de Langkawi and 2nd in the Tour of Georgia. He had to wait until this month to win his first race in Europe, the Tour of Austria.

Johann Bruyneel is careful in bringing up Danielson since there is no American in the horizon that comes close to Tom's "potential" to win the Tour de France. That's why this year, he skipped the Tour and concentrated on the Giro and the Vuelta where there is less of a pressure cooker atmosphere.

As I have said, Tom's strength is in his climbing and his time trialling, components for a 3-week race champion. While Lance had to work to perfect both discipline, Tom was genetically blessed with it. Now, it is up to Bruyneel, just like Riis did with Basso, to tease out the talent and from this 28yo tour rookie next year.

Raising Eyebrows

Andreas Kloden, 2nd and 3rd in the 2004 and 2006 Tour de France respectively, raised a lot of eyebrows when he signed for the doping scandal plagued team, ASTANA, (nee Liberty Seguros). It seemed that Kloden was scared of the tag "top dog" if he re-signed with T-MOBILE with Jan Ullrich out. With ASTANA, he'll definitely play a support role with Alexander Vinokourov as the undisputed team leader.

While most riders would grab the opportunity to be a team leader at least in some races, Kloden turned down the a dream job. But if I were T-MOBILE, I'd be happy to let him go. They need a rider with an inferiority complex like a hole in the head.