Danny Pate of Colorado Springs was named to the Tour de France roster of Boulder-based Team Garmin-Chipotle on Tuesday, making him one of only four Americans in the race.
Pate, 29, joins teammates Christian Vande Velde of Lemont, Ill., and Will Frischkorn of Charlottesville, Va., as three-quarters of the American roster in the three-week race that begins July 5 in Brest, France.
Pate is one of four Garmin riders who competed in last month’s Giro d’Italia. His strong performance in Italy pushed him onto the Tour roster. He helped Garmin win the team time trial and placed sixth in the individual time trial.
“By finishing the Giro, he’s obviously a lot stronger,” team director Jonathan Vaughters said from the team training base in Girona, Spain. “He really suffered the whole time, but the last day he did real well. He can compete with the best in the world. I’ve never seen that in Danny before.”
The other six members of the Tour roster are Magnus Backstedt of Sweden, Julian Dean of New Zealand, Ryder Hesjedal of Canada, Trent Lowe of Australia, Martijn Maaskant of the Netherlands and David Millar of Scotland.
David Zabriskie of Salt Lake City, who has won stages in the tours of France, Italy and Spain, was left off the roster because of a cracked vertebra he suffered in the Giro. Also out is Tom Danielson of Durango, who is recovering from reconstructive surgery on his shoulder and two ruptured discs.
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com
