The Tour de France is only half finished, but already Boulder-based team Cannondale-Garmin’s hopes of getting one of its riders within reach of the podium are in tatters.
The team’s strongest general classification rider — 26-year-old American Andrew Talansky — on Tuesday finished 11 minutes, 34 seconds behind Chris Froome, by pulling away from his rivals in the final four miles of an extraordinarily steep climb. Talansky is now 25th overall at 16:01 behind Froome — a gap from which it will virtually be impossible to recover.
“Absolute (expletive) day for us. No excuses,” Jonathan Vaughters, the team’s manager, wrote in a text message to The Denver Post. “Now we have to totally reorient what the team’s objectives are. Stage wins and breakaways will be our focus from here on out.”
Froome’s closest competitor is part-time Aspen resident Tejay van Garderen of the BMC team — a multi-time winner of the USA Pro Challenge — who is 2:52 back.
“These are always the tough moments in cycling,” Vaughters said in a message posted to his Twitter account. “You have to swallow your pride and come up with a different way forward. Onward.”
Vaughters had hoped — in an ideal scenario — in Stage 9. They nearly did that — Talansky started Tuesday in 19th just 4:17 back, Kristijan Koren was 30th at 8:35 and Daniel Martin 31st at 9:21 back.
That optimism ended with Froome’s ride. With 11 stages remaining, including two more days of climbing in the Pyrenees and even more uphill in the Alps later this week and next, Cannondale-Garmin will now turn its attention toward capturing at least one stage win.
“Hopefully we snag a win before the Tour is over,” Vaughters told The Post. “But the focus on GC (general classification) is dead as roadkill.”
Daniel Petty: dpetty@denverpost.com or twitter.com/danielpetty
