SUPER-BESSE, France — In a country of high fashion, where the clothes coming to a mall near you go through Paris first, the fashion world is bracing for a new craze.
Argyle is in.
Don’t feel bad if you still think those multicolored triangles are ugly. Spend any time with Team Garmin-Chipotle and you’ll start thinking in parallelograms. But the international attention this Boulder cycling team is getting at the Tour de France is bringing argyle to newspapers and TV screens all around the globe.
According to the team’s public relations staff, 700 stories about Garmin-Chipotle appeared in newspapers around the world last weekend. The Times of London is doing a Sunday series following the team from training camp in Girona, Spain, to the July 27 finish in Paris.
CBS was at the team hotel Wednesday to shoot the riders’ compression boots, one of the team’s many innovative gadgets. The team bus at the start of every stage has become a beehive for eager journalists feeding on the “clean-and-open” team philosophy.
It’s not all going well. Team director Jonathan Vaughters was heard swearing from the team car on Versus TV, and just try listening to the French pronounce “Garmin-Chipotle.”
“They say, ‘Chee-POE-tee-lee YAMM-een,’ ” Vaughters said.
That’s OK with Vaughters. Americans have butchered French long enough. He figures the French can fumble Garmin-Chipotle from here in the foothills of the Pyrenees to the Champs-Elysees, as long as they’re talking about it.
It has become a daily routine. The team bus pulls into the parking lot before a stage start, and the waiting media cluster around the doors. Soon, half a dozen cyclists are giving interviews. American cycling is interesting again.
“I’ve never seen so much media in my entire life,” said Christian Vande Velde, in his sixth Tour. Well, he’s seen more. He and Vaughters were U.S. Postal teammates of Lance Armstrong. The attention is just more up close and personal.
“When Discovery Channel (formerly Postal) was here,” said a journalist standing near the Garmin bus and pointing to a tree behind him, “the barricade would be out to there. No one could get in.”
When Vaughters started the weekly drug testing four years ago, he kept the door wide open. If he was going to preach full disclosure, he needed people to see. He needed them to ask questions.
“Sure, now it’s more important to push the message,” Vaughters said. “But we’re racing well. We are what we are. Now it’s ‘OK, but . . . can you actually race?’ ”
After seven days in the Tour, the team is still leading the team classification. Vande Velde led near the end of Thursday’s 117.3-mile stage from Aigurande to Super-Besse before being caught by winner Riccardo Ricco of Italy and Saunier Duval-Scott (Spain). Vande Velde is fourth overall, 44 seconds behind first-place Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg and Team Columbia (U.S.). Garmin-Chipotle’s David Millar is fifth, three seconds behind Vande Velde.
It’s safe to say Garmin has been a big hit.
“The media since Slipstream (Garmin-Chipotle’s previous name) landed last year, from the beginning has been very positive,” said Francois Thomazeau, Reuters’ French-based cycling writer who is covering his 19th Tour. “It’s a new approach. New language. New commitment to be clean.
“Vaughters is a good representative in the sport, and cycling journalists see him as a clean guy. This team came at the right time.”
Yes, did anyone notice after one week on the Tour and there are no positive drug tests? Garmin-Chipotle, along with High Road and CSC of Denmark, have helped shepherd a new emphasis on weekly testing.
“It’s absolutely refreshing to have a team like this around that is ambitious but not overly pushy,” said Alasdair Fotheringham, a Spain-based writer for London’s Independent and covering his 17th Tour. “I can honestly say there are skeptics out there, but they’re looking at other teams.”
Still, there are two weeks left. If Garmin-Chipotle slips — not in the standings but in doping — this will be a very long fall.
“We are all crossing our fingers,” Thomazeau said, “that that doesn’t happen again.”
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com
At a glance
A brief look at Thursday’s sixth stage:
Stage: The riders entered the mountains for the first time on a 121.5-mile trek through the Massif Central from Aigurande to Super-Besse.
Garmin-Chipotle watch: The Boulder-based team’s lead dropped from 1 minute, 44 seconds to 19 seconds as the riders battled in the mountains.
Quote of the day: “I’m in great shape. . . . Everything is possible.” — Overall leader Kim Kirchen, seventh overall at last year’s Tour, on feeling confident about his chances this year
Today’s stage: The ride is similar to Thursday’s — 98.8 miles from Brioude to Aurillac. There are eight climbs, including two category 2 ascents.
Denver Post staff and wire reports
