About 12 years ago, when Tom Danielson was hanging out in the mountain biking mecca of Durango over the summer, he and his buddies would sit around and watch the Tour de France.
These guys were mountain bikers, but even to the granola crowd Le Tour still had a special meaning. One day while watching the race, a friend asked Danielson if he’d ever do something like that.
“No, no,” Danielson told him. “That’s way above me.”
Danielson, 33, recalled the story Monday, one day after his fifth-place finish in the closing time trial gave him ninth place in the grueling Tour de Suisse. That came one month after a third place in the Tour of California assured him a place in a sport he never thought about until it was almost too late.
A spot in his first Tour de France.
Jonathan Vaughters, CEO and director of Boulder-based Garmin-Cervelo, said Monday the only thing that could knock the Boulder resident off his roster is injury or illness. Prepping in Girona, Spain, his other training base, Danielson probably won’t be rappelling down the Pyrenees next week.
The 98th Tour de France begins Saturday in the Brittany town of La Barre-de-Monts.
“I never thought I’d take a direction like this,” Danielson said from Girona. “It’s been an interesting career for me. There was a real quick rise in the beginning, then it kind of plateaued out. I had some ups and downs, and now I feel I’m at a higher point in my career than I’ve ever been.
“I feel like I’m ready for it.”
Danielson, who went to Fort Lewis College from East Lyme, Conn., had the odd misfortune of having Lance Armstrong declare him America’s next cycling hope after a spectacular crossover to road racing. It never materialized. Since winning the 2005 Tour of Georgia, his best individual performance may have been last year’s ninth in the Vuelta d’Espana.
This year, however, it clicked. He held his own in the steep mountains with the leaders in the Tour of California and topped a great Tour de Suisse with Sunday’s closing time trial, putting him 3:17 behind the overall winner, Levi Leipheimer.
“I just have the confidence,” Danielson said. “I’ve been searching for that. You need that result to do it, to get the confidence. With confidence you can relax and really see the situation rather than constantly forcing yourself in the direction you think you should go.”
This year’s Tour may be suited for him. It’s even more mountainous than usual, with seven mountain stages separated by only one flat stage and an off day.
But it’s even more suited for Alberto Contador, whose Denmark-based Team Saxo Bank-SunGard is competing in Colorado’s U.S. Pro Cycling Challenge in August. He seeks his third Tour win in four years. It’s not four in a row only because his team in 2008, Astana, was banned for too many positive doping tests.
The only thing that could stop Contador is if WADA and the UCI win their appeal of his Spanish cycling federation overturning a 2010 positive test of banned clenbuterol.
For what it’s worth, a betting website called lists Contador as a 2-3 favorite in the Tour de France (you must bet $3 to win $2.) Andy Schleck of Luxembourg is 2-1 and the next best bets are Cadel Evans of Australia and Ivan Basso of Italy at 25-1.
Garmin’s highest-rated rider is Canada’s Ryder Hesjedal at 125-1.Vaughters is hoping his team will finally win its first Tour stage. It could come July 3 on the 13.8-mile team time trial. It may come in the first week on flat stages with Tyler Farrar or Garmin-Cervelo newcomer Thor Hushovd, an eight-time Tour de France stage winner.
“We seem to produce a surprise in the Tour de France every year,” Vaughters said. “I hope this year that’s Danielson.”
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com
