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A chat with Tom Danielson
Tom Danielson, whose Discovery Channel team is disbanding at year’s end, will join Team Slipstream for 2008.
The decision means a shift in bosses, from Lance Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel to Jonathan Vaughters. And the lanky Coloradan, who spends half the year living outside of Girona, Spain, hopes it also means a ticket to the Tour de France, the one race Danielson never had a chance to do with Discovery. This year, a stomach ailment kept him off the Tour team.
VeloNews caught up with Danielson as he was enjoying some altitude-tent time in preparation for next month’s Vuelta a España.
VeloNews: Give me a timeline of your decision to join Slipstream.
Tom Danielson: Well, with Discovery not having a sponsor nailed down for next year, that was an influential part of me looking around and seeing what else was out there. When I was able to see Jonathan’s vision, I was really intrigued by the program and it seemed like a perfect fit for me. You know, everything happens for a reason in life and a lot of the hard times I went through this year really pointed me toward this new direction with Slipstream.
VN: I would assume that missing the Tour this year was a hard reality to stomach.
TD: It was, but perhaps if all that didn’t happen this year my perspective would be different. I learned a lot about myself during that time, and I learned what I need to do to flourish as a rider. Being sick like that put my job in perspective for me. I realized how fortunate I am to be able to race my bike.
VN: What role do you hope to have with Slipstream?
TD: I really feel like I can offer advice to the younger guys. I’ve been on a couple of different teams now and I’m excited to be able to share what I’ve learned from those experiences with younger riders on the team. From a personal standpoint, I’m really excited to be racing with [Christian] Vande Velde, Dave [Zabriskie] and David Millar. These guys have been at the highest level longer than I have and I think I can learn from them. I mean, a guy like Christian has been on so many teams and been through so many different situations through his career. I haven’t gotten the opportunity to really get to know him. He could be a great mentor.
VN: What’s your ideal schedule for next year?
TD: We talked a lot about my schedule, and it won’t be a whole lot different from what it was supposed to be this year. Starting out with the Tour of California and progressing into Paris-Nice and into the Tour of the Mediterranean and then Georgia. Perhaps then I’ll do big races like the Dauphiné and the Tour of Catalonia. The Tour de France is the big goal.
VN: What are your thoughts on now racing on a team with strict internal anti-doping testing?
TD: I think it’s awesome for several reasons. Number one, you’re protected in a sense from other riders on your team having a problem. You can’t have a situation like Astana or Cofidis, where you are on the team and are clean but some other guy has the problem and all of a sudden you’re crapping your pants because you don’t know if you’ll have a job next month. You know that you’re safe and your teammates are playing by the same rules. Number two is from a fan’s perspective. You can see by the evidence shown by the team that your favorite rider is playing the game fairly, and you won’t have to question their performance. You won’t have to guess if it was legitimate or fake. With the 100-percent transparency, I think fans might feel more of a bond with the riders. They’ll know what we’ve gone through in racing and training.
VN: You and David Zabriskie haven’t had the most chummy relationship, at least in the eyes of the media. Do you have any reservations about racing alongside him?
TD: No, of course not. I have a lot of respect for Dave. He is a colorful personality, and I he was just trying to give me shit in the media to joke around. I like Dave and we’ll get along just fine. There was never a rift between us. It was more of his joking personality, trying to put some color in the sport.
VN: Will the move to Slipstream shake up your split life between Spain and Colorado?
TD: No, in fact my life will be exactly the same. The team is based in Girona and Colorado, and I’ll actually spend more time [in Spain]. We love it here and we’ve invested a lot of time here. We’ll have this place for the other guys to come up to and train in the mountains. It will be awesome being close to the team service center, I can get equipment, advice and help. If you want to meet with the team director I can just drive right up.
VN: What are your thoughts on argyle?
TD: Ha, like anything it grows on you. To be honest, the first time I saw it I was like, man that’s rough on the eyes. But I think it’s a good representative of the team. It does something against the system. It’s not ordinary, but it’s doing it so well that it will become trend and fashion. Like I said, it’s just like Slipstream. Earlier on this year, people might have said that it’s not an ordinary team and it’s not doing it the way other teams do. But after watching them for a year, it’s like, they are really legit. It’s the cool team. It’s the hot new team. It’s just like argyle — at first you see it and you don’t know what to think of it, but because it does what it does so well, it’s cool.
