Most fans adore winners and some glorify underdogs; it’s a surer bet to cheer on athletes who win repeatedly or aren’t expected to win. In professional cycling, no one remembers second place – except maybe a certain Luxembourger.

When high expectations surround a young athlete and he doesn’t meet them entirely, some fans feel disappointed and turn their attentions elsewhere. If this athlete then pulls off several stunning performances in a season, the same fans renew their love for him. It makes me wonder if fan fickleness frustrates athletes. When a person gives his heart to an endeavor, it could be hard not to take things personally.

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Join over 800 riders AT BAHIA MAR PARKING LOT FOR THE KIDS INLET BENEFITING KIDS IN DISTRESS. 4 ROUTES: 100, 62.5, 31 OR 15 MILES WITH A SCENIC ROUTE ALONG A1A, the day is filled with friendly volunteers & a festive beach celebration at the finish. Click here for more information.

“It’s a dream come true. To be in the top 10 at my first Tour de France, I can’t believe it,” said Danielson.

“The team has been so great, we have had an amazing Tour. I have to thank the guys, and Jonathan and Robby Ketchell for everything they’ve done for me here. And if we’re lucky enough to end up as the best team, that shows what a team effort the Tour de France is and how beautiful our sport is. I couldn’t be happier.

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Hushovd takes over yellow jersey

Garmin-Cervelo won the team time trial, putting world champion Thor Hushovd in the yellow jersey. The US-based team covered the 23km in a time of 24:48. Second place went to BMC Racing Team at 24:52, with Sky third in the same time. Surprisingly, it was Garmin’s first stage win ever at the Tour de France.

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Garmin-Cervelo climber taking it day by day

Tom Danielson (Garmin-Cervelo) has had to wait a long time but on Saturday he will line up on the Passage du Gois for the start of his maiden Tour de France. The 33-year-old turned professional nearly a decade ago and despite competing in several other grand tours, has always been overlooked when it came to the biggest race of all.

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Tom was named to the Tour de France roster for the first time, team CEO Jonathan Vaughters said Monday.

“I honestly don’t know what it means to me,” Danielson said Monday from his other training base in Girona, Spain. “I’m a pro. I focused a lot on being at a high level. I just want to continue doing my job and reach the highest level possible.

“On the last day of the Tour, I’ll tell you what it means to me.”

Danielson, 33, earned the berth by finishing third in the Tour of California last month, and ninth in the Tour de Suisse yesterday, including a fifth-place in Sunday’s time trial.

“We seem to produce a suprise in the Tour de France every year,” Vaughters said. “I hope this year that’s Danielson.”

The Tour de France begins July 2 in the Brittany town of Passage du Gois.

The Denver Post

Tom Danielson has a good shot at making Garmin-Cervelo’s Tour de France squad after his performance at the Tour of California. He recently brought his time trial bike into fit specialists Retul to get it dialed in for the rest of the season.

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“It was an honour to stand on the podium with Chris and Levi,” Danielson said. “I started my career with Chris on Saturn and with Levi on Discovery Channel and I learned a lot from both. I wouldn’t be half the rider that I am today without having raced with these guys. I enjoyed racing for third place and being able to celebrate it with them. That being said, Garmin-Cervelo did a great job this week and we definitely gave RadioShack a run for their money.”

Results

Read Velonews Interview

Read the race report at slipstreamsports.com

Watch the video

Tom Danielson, a professional cyclist for the American Garmin-Cervelo team, recently had eye surgery at Icon LASIK in Denver, Colorado. Tom suffered from extremely dry eyes throughout his career and was forced to wear contact lenses during his long training rides and during races. Tom’s Rx went from a -4.75 to 20/20 one day post op and 20/10 two weeks post op!

Read more from PRNewswire…

In its ninth year, the KIDS Inlet Challenge Bicycle Ride raised more than $125,000 for Fort Lauderdale-based Kids in Distress (KID) exceeding last year’s fundraising efforts.

For the second year in a row, the event was led by pro cyclist Tom Danielson and presented by Zimmerman Advertising’s zMotion cycling group. Also riding this year was local cycling hero turned pro, Andrew Talansky, who signed with Garmin-Cervelo this summer.

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Sunday, December 5th 2010
Bahia Mar – 801 Seabreeze Blvd, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33316
Free Parking for the first 300 cars
Ride alongside Pro Cyclist Tom Danielson of Garmin-Cervelo

• 7:00am start – 100 miles
• 7:15am start – 62.5 miles
• 7:30am start – 31 miles
• 7:45am start – 15 miles

Beach celebration with food, drinks and music after!

Download the flyer

“The altitude is going to be tough,” said Garmin’s Tom Danielson, who was joined by teammate Tim Duggan and United Health Care’s Rory Sutherland as the pro riders in attendance. “It will compete with the Vuelta some, but I still think most of the top GC guys in the world will come over. It’s definitely not going to be a sprinter’s race.”

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Ride with Tom and hundreds of other riders for this great cause!

All proceeds go to purchasing helmets and bicycles for the children of The Boys and Girls Clubs of Lee County!

Visit www.everyonerides.org for more information or download the PDF.

from Johnny Weltz:

The grand finale of the Vuelta this year happened on an exceptionally hard mountaintop finish outside Madrid.

In the end nobody was able to make a big difference on the GC as all the riders with whom they have fought for three weeks all stayed around each other.

So the podium stayed the same and the top ten was mixed up again but with only a few seconds in between them.

Tommy D confirmed his return to cycling on the high level. He ended the stage among the strongest and ended in the ninth spot, only six seconds from seventh.

But in the end a very solid performance after three weeks of very hard racing.

No one could imagine that the whole top ten on GC was a game of only a very few seconds!

Tom had a solid time trial, crossing 14th at 1:53. He now sits seventh overall at 3:55 but just 11 seconds from 4th on GC. Read Report

Tom Danielson (Garmin-Transitions) will look to cement his place in the top ten of the Vuelta with a strong performance in today’s 46km individual time trial in Peñafiel.

The American currently sits seventh overall, 4:29 down on race leader Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) and with five stages remaining could beat his best ever finish in a grand tour – 8th overall in the 2005 Vuelta.

Danielson is perhaps not one of the stronger riders against the clock in the top ten at the Vuelta but he is motivated and apparently fresher than many of his rivals.

“We’ll see what happens. It’s the last few days of a difficult grand tour so it’s hard to say how things will play out. Of course on paper it might look one way but it’s up to an individual to put it all together. I won’t lie though, I’m excited about the time trial,” Danielson told Cyclingnews.

Read Full Cyclingnews.com Article

…from Velonews.com: Danielson came to life on the final climb, attacking off the front of the GC group on the lower ramps of the Cotobello summit finish with about 8km to go. Frank Schleck (Saxo Bank) and Carlos Sastre (Cervélo) each bridged out before Danielson overcooked it and crossed the line 11th at 2:07 back. Despite losing time to the GC leaders, he actually improved his placing to seventh overall at 4:29 back.

“Tom said he would attack today and he did. It’s good that he tried instead of just sitting in the bunch. Schleck was the strongest of the GC group today and Tom tried to equal his pace and he blew up a little bit in the end,” Fernández explained. “Maybe he lost a little bit of time, but it was great to see him attack. He was in the action of the race. That’s more important. We think Tom can recover well and have a good time trial. The course is good for him. We still think he can finish in the top 5.”

Read Full Velonews Article

Photo: Graham Watson

Lying in 15th overall, less than two minutes behind new race leader Joaquin Rodriguez, Garmin-Transitions’ Tom Danielson is in a situation to repeat his top 10 performance at the 2006 Vuelta a España when he finished sixth.

But the American told Cyclingnews that he won’t be setting any clear objectives for overall ambitions until stage 17, a 46km individual time trial with the probability of a lot of wind in Peñafiel.

Read Full Cyclingnews Article

Tom Danielson (Garmin-Transitions) made it through Tuesday’s potentially explosive 10th stage to maintain his options for a strong overall result at the Vuelta a España.

Danielson hit the midway point through the 2010 Vuelta is solid position, settling into 15th overall at 1:54 back.

“I’ve done the best I can. I am not real explosive on those short finishes. I’ve struggled a little bit, not quite (with the) fastest guys on the short finishes, but close to the GC guys,” Danielson said. “I hope to really come alive in the second part of this Vuelta.”

Read Full Velonews Interview

…from Velonews:
Tom Danielson did well in Tuesday’s battle to cross the line 17th at 36 seconds back and slotted into 16th at 1:21 back to keep alive his GC hopes.

“It’s been brutal these first few days of the Vuelta for us,” said Garmin-Transitions sport director Johnny Weltz. “Julian is really beat up, so he’s taking it day-to-day. Tyler had some stomach problems and Dave struggled with the heat. We’re still in there. Tom had a good ride today, because these short, explosive climbs are not his style. We want to keep him protected until we get to the Pyrénées and Asturias where he will do better on those longer climbs.”

Photo: Graham Watson

Tom was the top American at the tough Trofeo Melinda in Italy finishing 8th with the same time as winner Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Doimo). Next up for Tom is the Vuelta a Espana where he hopes to put in another good performance.

Garmin Race Report

Tom won the 7.6-mile road in 49 minutes, 32 seconds to win the Newton’s Revenge race up Mt. Washington. Tom’s time was nearly 12 minutes faster than the second place finisher.

Read full story here

Pinkham Notch, NH—Tom Danielson, course record-holder for the Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb, has just announced that he will return to the White Mountains on July 10 to compete in Newton’s Revenge, the other annual bike race up the Mt. Washington Auto Road. Following several years of major team competition in Europe and North America, and having mostly recovered from an accident in May that prevents his riding in the Tour de France, Danielson leads a field of nearly two hundred cyclists in this popular (and grueling ) ascent of the highest peak in the Northeast.

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With around 30 kilometres completed the day’s break took shape, comprised of Tom and 8 other riders. Tom rode strong and finished 7th on the stage. Tom said he felt good but his hip and back injuries sustained in a crash prior to the Tour of California are still hurting a bit and causing discomfort. However, each day he feels better and the form is coming along nicely. Look for a strong second half of the season!

Photos by Graham Watson

Saturday’s penultimate stage of the Tour de Suisse saw a strong ride by Garmin Transitions’ Tom Danielson, who made it into the move of the day and was involved in the fight for the victory in Liestal.

The break went clear inside the first half hour of the 172.4 kilometre stage and, according to Danielson’s team manager Jonathan Vaughters, it was the first time that he had been in such a long move.

While Danielson was tailed off slightly on the run-in to the finish and was seventh across the line, he explained afterwards that because of injuries he suffered in the run-up to the Tour of California, he was unable to go as deep as he wished. As a result, he was pleased with his placing.

“It was a really tough day and I am happy to be in the front,” he told Cyclingnews. “I never felt in difficulty, it is just for me overcoming a bad injury. I am happy with it…we were a really strong breakaway. Obviously you look at the peloton behind, there were only about 20 guys left in the front from that. So I am happy. “

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Tom helped out the guys at Bicycle Village in Aurora, CO before heading out to the Tour of California.

Read full recap here.

Read story at Velonews.com

Tour of the Gila offers good prep

Tom Danielson showed that he is on target for next month’s Amgen Tour of California with a strong performance in the SRAM Tour of the Gila on Wednesday.

The Garmin-Transitions rider, taking part in the national event under the DZ Nuts team, claimed second place, a mere 10 seconds behind stage winner Levi Leipheimer on the notoriously steep finishing 10-kilometre long ascent to Mogollon.

Danielson hopes to put forth an equally strong performance is Friday’s stage three time trial and keep his place in the overall classification.

“For me it’s important to prove to myself, that I can be up there with those guys and I proved that today,” Tom Danielson told Cyclingnews. “I hope to have a really good time trial in a couple of days.”

Read full article on cyclingnews.com

The 2009 season proved to be a pivotal one for Tom Danielson. After two difficult years, during which the Garmin-Transitions rider fought his way through some tough times and rough rides, including illness and crashes that left him with more than just minor injuries, the affable former collegiate mountain-bike sensation and Grand Tour stage winner was making a comeback to the top ranks of world cycling.

Having worked hard last winter in the States and all season long in Europe, racing both the Giro and the Vuelta—not to mention several Classics and stage races—Tommy D looked to be on his way to the Vuelta podium after riding strongly into the top 10, and as high as 4th on GC for several key stages. With his promising TT win and third place overall earlier at the Vuelta a Burgos, the Connecticut native looked poised to finally snatch a top 3 in Spain.

But with less than a week left in the tour Danielson was forced to pull out. Though he tried to race through it, he eventually succumbed to a nasty flu, and the 31-year-old had to abandon Spain’s Grand Tour, one of his favorite races and biggest goals of the year. Yet it didn’t stop him from finishing the season strong: He rode a respectable TT at the World Championships, was in the thick of the road race until the final selection was made on the last lap, and helped teammate Dan Martin to a top 10 at Lombardia.

I caught up with Danielson for a candid conversation. In this four-part interview, the easy-going, always optimistic rider talks about getting through a long season of ups and downs, learning to battle in one-day races, Evans and Vandenbroucke, and why he’ll be going into 2010 with the best form of his career.

Read complete interview at cyclingreporter.com

Can Garmin-Transitions’ enigma deliver before time runs out?

“He’s a lottery ticket. A one-in-a-million chance that could turn you into a millionaire but if don’t buy the ticket you don’t have a shot, right?” asks Jonathan Vaughters.

I respond with a nod and a reassuring smile. We’ve just had dinner in Calpe, Spain and the topic of discussion is the American cyclist Tom Danielson. The wine has been flowing, the company excellent and I can’t remember how we’ve ended up talking about Tom Danielson.

Read full article at cyclingnews.com

Stages 3, 4 offer more climbing but could fall to the sprinters

The Amgen Tour of California organisers continued their staged release of the details of this year’s race, today giving out information on the third and fourth stages of the 2010 Tour.

The third stage from San Francisco to Santa Cruz is a near repeat of the 2009 stage, minus the trip across the iconic Golden Gate bridge since the stage is no longer on a public holiday and shutting down the route on a workday would cause a traffic jam of epic proportions.

The 182.9km stage will still take in some of the most spectacular scenery that California has to offer as well as providing a potential launching pad for those riders seeking a high finish in the overall classification.

The riders will take in the wild beauty of Half Moon Bay before turning inland toward Kings Mountain toward the first difficulty of the day on Tunitas Creek Road.

The route then heads south again toward La Honda on highway 84, but rather than staying on this road for a flatter route to the coast, the route turns onto Pescadero Road to take in two climbs, then drops back to sea level on highway 1 before hitting the Bonny Doon Road climb which Levi Leipheimer used to catapult himself into the overall lead last year.

Garmin-Transitions’ manager Jonathan Vaughters predicted how this stage would play out. “That depends on what’s happened the day before. If the race has a real GC contender on a top team in the leader’s jersey, then we’ll see a defensive day, with perhaps a rider from a small, early, breakaway winning alone, and a group of 15 or so coming in together with all the contenders in it just behind.

“However, if the leader of the race is a more vulnerable rider, then I’d say all-out attacks from riders like Levi Leipheimer, Michael Rogers, and maybe our own Tom Danielson will split the race to pieces.”

Read full article at cyclingnews.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TEAM ZMOTION AND PRO CYCLIST TOM DANIELSON JOIN FORCES TO RAISE MONEY FOR KIDS IN DISTRESS
Event Producers Anticipate More than 1,200 Cyclists

Ft. Lauderdale, FL – November 23, 2009 – Kids in Distress (KID) has announced that this year’s KIDS Inlet Challenge will be led by pro cyclist Tom Danielson and presented by Zimmerman Advertising’s zMotion Foundation. It is anticipated that the ride, which will take place on December 6, 2009 in Fort Lauderdale, will draw more than 1,200 cyclists, making it KID’s largest cycling event yet.

Visit www.zmotion.com for more information.

On July 14th, 2009, Stuart Culp of Fort Collins, Colorado was hit by an automobile while on a training ride. Stuart suffered a major head injury and other serious injuries. He has just recently returned home to continue his long road to recovery.

Tom was kind enough to host a benefit ride and dinner on November 21st that raised several hundred dollars for the Culp family. See photos HERE.

In part one of our interview, Garmin-Slipstream rider and Connecticut native Tom Danielson talks his Giro di Lombardia, the importance of training on days you don’t want to, fly-fishing, and why he’s riding better than ever.

Daniel McMahon: How are you? What’s new?

Tom Danielson: Good, thanks. I’m back at home just about a week now from Europe. It’s nice to be back in Colorado and back in the U.S. I’m really enjoying my down time.

DM: You did the Giro di Lombardia. How did it go?

TD: It went okay. It’s kind of a difficult race for me. I prefer stage racing, so one-day races are really challenging for me, mainly because I don’t have very much experience doing them. The years I was on Discovery, I focused primarily or solely on stage racing. It wasn’t until I came to this team, to Garmin, that I started dabbling with one-day races, so I’ve got a lot to learn.
I mean, I’m not quite there yet, but I had good form going into the race but I’m not 100 percent accustomed to one-day racing, so I didn’t really know where to be at the right times. I ended up getting caught behind a split toward the end of the race, and that kind of took me out of the final. But it worked out well. We had Dan [Martin; 8th place] in the breakaway early on.

Read the complete interview HERE.

It’s been a long road back for Tom Danielson, the rider once considered the next big thing. The American tells BikeRadar how he’s finally got his confidence back heading into the Vuelta a España.

Rise and fall
If you were in Granada on a balmy September afternoon in 2006, it was difficult to see anything other than a career on the rise for Tom Danielson.

The then-28-year-old had just won his first stage in the Vuelta a España, powering into the Andalucian city with new overall race leader Alexandre Vinokourov and thundering home, arms aloft.

Read complete interview HERE.

Tom Danielson was back in the winner’s column last weekend with victory in the individual time trial at the five-day Vuelta a Burgos in Spain.

It marked Danielson’s first European victory since 2006 and the end of a long comeback from the injuries that nearly derailed his career.

The Garmin-Slipstream rider ended up third overall at Burgos, a promising result that indicates the worst is behind Danielson as he turns his attention next to the Vuelta a España, a race in which he’s already twice finished in the top 10.

VeloNews European correspondent Andrew Hood recently chatted with Danielson from his home in the Spanish Pyrenean town of Puigcerda.

Read the full interview HERE.