The new hope | Cyclingnews

An interview with Tom Danielson, August 31, 2005

The 27 year old Discovery Channel rider has long been considered one of US cycling's brightest talents. While racing for Mercury in 2002, Danielson won the Tour of Qinghai Lake in China and broke Tyler Hamilton's course record by almost a minute when he took the Mount Washington Hill Climb. The following year, he won the Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia, earning considerable praise in the process. More victories followed in the US, in events such as the Pomona Valley Stage Race, the Redlands Bicycle Classic, the Nature Valley Grand Prix, the Cascade Cycling Classic and the Tour de Toona. He also set a course record for the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic.

People were starting to get excited about the young talent from Durango, Colarado, and Fassa Bortolo duly snapped him up, giving the then-Saturn rider his first European contract. However, although the move to Giancarlo Ferretti's silver squad seemed like a dream for the young professional, he was frequently left on the sidelines and never got a chance to show his worth. Winning the Mount Evans hill climb in another new record hinted at what could have been had he been given a real shot.

He was frustrated, but he would get his chance. Lance Armstrong's career was winding down, and the Discovery Channel team were looking for new American talent to nurture. Danielson fitted the bill perfectly. Recognising that he had a lot to learn, the team set about showing him the ropes and gave him a masterclass when they guided him to an excellent victory in the Dodge Tour de Georgia. Danielson finished ahead of established European professionals such as Levi Leipheimer, Floyd Landis and Armstrong himself; it was, he says, his biggest victory and one which gave him a lot of satisfaction.

"It really meant a lot, and for a number of different reasons," he said. "The number one was that the team and Lance and Johan had faith in me and put pressure on my shoulders. It was a very difficult field - you could see that the American guys and the European guys who were there are winning ProTour events this season, and have taken first, sixth and ninth in the Tour. And also the guys who helped them do that.

"So it was a good field, but the most important thing was that the team came up with a very difficult plan for me. Lance helped me a lot and having an idol, a mentor like that to come up with a plan and for me to put the icing on the cake was a huge accomplishment. It taught me that if I believe in myself, I can push my own limits. I hope to achieve that here, next year even more, and hopefully arrive at the top eventually."

Following the Tour de Georgia, Danielson was part of the Discovery Channel team for the Giro d'Italia. However, his knee had been troubling him on and off during the spring, and the joint flared right up during the Italian race, forcing him to retire. He saw several specialists and discovered the cause of a problem to be a muscle imbalance. Several weeks of treatment and strength building put things right, and he made his return to racing with a fine fifth place in the Tour of Austria. Being named as part of Discovery's Vuelta team has given him a chance to test his limits and build to what he hopes is a big future.

"The team has set out some goals for me. The first goal is to finish. That is the most important for my future as a rider. After that, I would really like to do well on some stages and to generally ride strongly here. So firstly it is to finish, then do some stages, then if it all works out without putting too much pressure on myself and the team rides well, I would maybe like to do well overall. But first and foremost, I want to get to Madrid."

"Each year has been a big jump for me," he continued. "But on this team, they are putting me in good hands and I have been able to catch up quickly, whereas before I was so far behind. The biggest thing for me is just having confidence in the peloton and understanding how to conserve energy. I mean, I can do an uphill time trial or something like that without problems, but it's important for me to arrive at the last climb, after 230 kilometres of racing, and have used my energy correctly throughout the whole day so that I can give that effort right at the end.

I liked the hill. When I raced the prologue I actually went too slow on the hill and faster at the end. I was just being too conservative because I thought that the hill would take a lot more out of me than it did. I actually lost time on the hill and gained time on the flat part; normally with my characteristics and strengths I should be able to gain on the hill. But Johan and Dirk saw my whole ride and they have brought a load of things to my attention to correct in the future. I'll just keep working hard and improve.

I felt good and then I progressed in the Saxon Tour, which had flat stages and crosswinds. My main goal there was to learn. I needed to do everything that I was bad at - main roads, crosswinds, sidewinds, rain, everything. I felt really good there, I think I was in the break four out of the five days. So that was encouraging and also some good training. After that, I did some altitude training and did San Sebastian, then some more hard training, and now I'm here. So we will see what happens.

TD: I think the team set out some goals for me. The first goal is to finish. That's most important for my future as a rider. After that, I would really like to do well on some stages and to generally ride strongly here. So firstly it's to finish, then do some stages, then if it all works out without putting too much pressure on myself and the team rides well, I would maybe like to do well overall. But first and foremost, I want to finish.

TD: Yes. I've never ridden the Tour of Spain so I don’t know any of these climbs, really. I think I am going to give it my best in the time trials because I want to improve there. As a climber, I think stages six, ten and eleven look really good. And everyone tells me that the Lagos de Covadonga climb is a really good one. So I think I will be trying to go well there. But any time it goes uphill, I'd like to go fast, stay with the front guys if I can.

TD: Yeah, it was before the Giro. I made a lot of mistakes handling the knee. Obviously I've gone back...I took a month off the bike dealing with the problems I was having. I've been around a lot of people who have helped me address the problem and make sure it doesn’t happen again. But I've learned a lot of things and become a stronger bike rider, overcoming the injury and correcting the muscle imbalance I had. I feel I'm getting more power in the saddle.

TD: Yes, but this year was the first time I've had so many races. This is only my second year as a professional. In the past I was able to correct things because I would do a race and then have a month off. But now with 21 stages, the Tour of Georgia with seven stages, the Tour of Pays Basques with five - every other week I have a hard stage race and that sort of thing really makes it flare up. I had a lot of pain in the Tour of Georgia but I kept riding, thinking this is part of cycling. I always had aches and pains and stuff, so I kept going. But in the Giro it got really painful and swollen, so obviously I had to do something about that.

TD: Yeah. For a number of different reasons. Number one was that the team and Lance and Johan had faith in me and put pressure on my shoulders. It was a very difficult field - you could see that the American guys and the European guys who were there are winning ProTour events and have taken first, sixth and ninth in the Tour. And the guys who helped them do that were there too. So it was a good field, but the most important thing was that the team came up with a very difficult plan for me. Lance helped me a lot and having an idol, a mentor like that to come up with a plan and for me to put the icing on the cake was a huge accomplishment. It taught me that if I believe in myself, I can push my own limits. I hope to achieve that here, next year even more and finally, hopefully arrive at the top.

TD: I think so. You know, each year has been a big jump for me. But especially on this team, they are putting me in good hands and I have been able to catch up quickly. Whereas before I was so far behind. The biggest thing for me is just having confidence in the peloton and understanding how to conserve energy. I mean, I can do an uphill time trial or something like that without problems, but it's important for me to arrive at the last climb, after 230 kilometres of racing, and have used my energy correctly throughout the whole day so that I can give that effort right at the end.