Once massage and post-recovery was out of the way the riders and staff gathered in the small village’s secluded square for an intimate but press friendly event to celebrate their first ever stage win and yellow jersey.
Jonathan Vaughters called a toast, celebrating the team’s achievements, and he was quickly followed up by Slipstream’s chairman Doug Ellis.
Perhaps one of the proudest members of the squad was Robby Ketchell, the team’s aerodynamicist. Ketchell has helped pioneer some of Garmin’s most influential components, from skin suits to helmets, and was dubbed as the team’s tenth man for the team time trial.
He modestly played down his involvement as the team sipped a rare glass of champaign: “It came to down everything from the riders hard work to the organisation of this team and the equipment that we had but the biggest asset was being able to integrate all those components together,” Ketchell told Cyclingnews.
“It’s a huge moment. It’s exciting to be part of this team and it’s pretty much in terms of time trials the biggest one.”
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Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
