Cannondale-Garmin not thinking about Danielson at Tour de Pologne

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It’s fair to suggest that the atmosphere at the Cannondale-Garmin breakfast table in Rawa Mazowiecka, Poland, wasn’t the most pleasant this morning. The riders and staff at the Tour de Pologne woke up to the news that on the other side of the world, on the eve of the Tour of Utah, Tom Danielson had retuned a positive test for synthetic testosterone.

Such a situation is far from ideal for anyone, but the Garmin half of the team – which merged with the Italian Cannondale squad at the start of the year – was founded upon an express anti-doping philosophy and Jonathan Vaughters has said in the past that one positive test could spell the end for his team.

As was to be expected, Fabrizio Guidi, head directeur sportif at the Tour de Pologne, where six of the eight riders are originally from Cannondale, remained tight-lipped when talking to Cyclingnews outside the team bus ahead of stage 2 on Monday.

“I have nothing to say, no comment. That’s from the team, that’s normal. Every kind of release has to come from the management. That’s what we have to do, no comment at the moment. Everything has to come from them,” he said.

“We are focused on racing and we will do our best. We have a strong group here and we want to fight to win this race. That’s our focus, we keep going,” he added.

The team’s plans for the seven-stage Tour de Pologne revolve primarily around Moreno Moser, who won the race overall in 2012 as a 21-year-old riding for Liquigas-Cannondale. They are also hoping Davide Formolo, the promising 22-year-old who caught the eye this year with a stage win at the Giro d’Italia, can chip in.

“We try for both [GC and stages],” said Guidi. “Why not? We have Moreno who already won here, and also Formolo who is in good shape, so we try to win one stage. We know there are other contenders who are very strong. We came here to do a very good Tour of Poland and this is still our focus.”

As for Moser, he seemed reluctant before the race to play up his chances of taking the overall, instead insisting a stage win is the primary objective. The Italian, nephew of Francesco Moser, came into the race on the back of picking up his first win of the season on the final stage of the Tour of Austria.

“I feel good - the Tour of Austria gives me faith and morale for the Tour de Pologne,” he said. “It’s a race that means a lot to me; here in 2012 I had my most important victory. Without obsessing on the classification, the goal is to try to win a stage. We can count on a very competitive team with, in addition to me, Davide Formolo and Davide Villella.”