Tom Danielson, the Durango resident whom Lance Armstrong once called his possible successor, will sign with Denver-based Team Slipstream/ Chipotle, team director Jonathan Vaughters said Thursday.
Danielson, who joins ex-world champion time-trial specialist David Millar, gives Slipstream/Chipotle a stronger spoke in its race to qualify for next year’s Tour de France.
Danielson, 29, won the 2005 Tour of Georgia, and Armstrong took him under his wing on Team Discovery Channel. However, Danielson’s star failed to rise. He abandoned the 2005 Giro di Italia with an injury and failed to make Discovery’s Tour de France roster last month.
But when Discovery lost its sponsorship after the race, Vaughters wanted him on his fledgling team.
“He’s a big natural talent,” Vaughters said. “He went to Discovery and got caught up in the whole ‘next Lance Armstrong’ thing, which he is not.”
Vaughters said Danielson, a former mountain biker at Fort Lewis College, is capable of winning mountain stages.
“I don’t know whether he’ll be able to recover from day to day like Lance did,” Vaughters said. “In a one-day race, it’s not important. He can win a stage of the Tour de France without a doubt.”
