Against all the odds I backed newcomer Tom Danielson this season, he duly repaid me by slashing the big gus and winning his first major pro outing, and has now earned himself a spot on one of the Worlds top pro road teams - cover story from Procycling earlier this year...
From cat 3 rookie road racer to winner of Le Tour de Langkawi in one year,
that’s Tom Danielson, the latest, and one of the brightest talents yet
to emerge from mountain biking and the US. Steve Thomas travels through the
Langkawi race with him.
The sense of disappointment on Tom’s face was
obvious; after all that hard work, endless training, lung wrenching suffering,
and it all came to nothing. The McFlurry machine was on the blink. There we
were at the MacDonald’s in central Kuala Lumpur, and the one thing he’d
been waiting on for months was a McFlurry. As we were about to settle for
Big Macs the machine sprung back to life and a mass celebratory order of the
chilled goo was placed “ I’ve raced hard for ten days to earn this!
Grinned the newly crowned Langkawi Champion as he slurped through his way
through the forbidden fruit.
Those of you outside of the Mid West US may well
be wondering who the heck is Tom Danielson? Okay, so you’re not alone.
I went out on a limb to convince the guys back at the Procycling office to
go big on this guy – a rookie pro on a division three domestic team.
But I’d heard the rumbles about this super climber when I was Stateside
last summer, and it all sounded too good to be true. So when I found out that
he was newly signed to the Saturn team and was on the start list for Le Tour
de Langkawi I figured we’d best check him out.
The word coming from those who have experienced
the wrath of the tall skinny guys climbing prowess was that he was the next
big thing about to come out of the wild west – and that potentially he
was going to be bigger than those who had come before him. And that’s
some kind of praise!
Amazingly Tom is only just starting his second season on the road. Coming
out of Connecticut he got involved with cycling through friends, and started
mountain biking back in the early nineties. Moving on to Durango to be schooled
at Fort Collins College he started to take things more seriously.
“I started racing mountain bikes in 94. In 96 I won the NCS series and
went to Australia for the World Championships with the junior national team.”
A bright future in the dirt looked to be on the cards? “Things kind of
stagnated after this. I was doing well in local races, but not improving.”
By now Tom was riding out with the college cycling club and showing up for
the weekly “Durango World Championships” (weekly club rides which
have several ex World Champs and pros along), and getting noticed. He had
also hooked up with his current coach – Rick Crawford; “I wanted
to improve my mountain biking, but the racing doesn’t kick in until May
so I tried a small college road race with some of my friends. Rick was really
helping with my training and I started going well on the road.”
This was last spring, and Tom was all set to start his mountain bike season
with the Sobe/Headshock team; “ I rode the Tour of Gila, and was climbing
well. I finished 8th overall and got signed by Mercury before the mountain
bike season even got started.” As a novice cat 3 racer this was quite
some achievement.
Within no time at all Tom was competing alongside the likes of Chris Wherry,
Scott Moninger, Henk Vogels and Gordon Fraser; “ I was really green.”
He admits. Coming straight from the solo efforts of dirt racing to the tactical
world of top-level road racing was quite a leap. He hadn’t had the grooming
and transition afforded to the likes of his more illustrious counterparts
(Martinez and Evans). His abundance of talent was obvious to all around him,
not just as a climber but also as a great time trialist and good all round
stage race prospect.
One of his first major assignments with Mercury was the Estes Park Cycling
Challenge, an ultra hilly stage race held at high altitude in northern Colorado.
His more illustrious team mates were expected to take the honours, but they
ended up playing a support and tutorial roll as Tom dominated the race –
taking multiple stage wins, with a huge 5 minute victory margin in the hill
climb stage; ”Estes was my break through race were I won three out of
five stages and the overall. My teammates Chris Wherry and Scott Moninger
taught me so many things during that race. I also learned that I could time
trial as I won both TT's there, and over great riders. Truly a big confidence
builder!”
He was learning fast, and attracting quite some attention in with it, earning
him his first international road call up for the Tour of Qinghai Lake in China,
another high altitude stage race. “China was my first international road
race experience. There were many great riders from teams like Collstrop and
Allesio and I learned that I could
overcome odds and achieve great things. The racing was fast and hard, but
I learned many things as I was thrown to the fire in an international field.
I won both the time trial and the big mountain stage, and the overall.”
In fact he almost lost the overall victory at the eleventh hour after a bad
descent cost him almost a minute, something he really needs to work on; “I
need to improve all round a whole lot yet, but especially my cornering and
descending. I still have a lot to learn about riding in a big bunch.”
These skills are improving fast, though along the way they also cost him the
victory in his home race – The Iron Horse Classic “ I was on my
own at the top of the last climb. I took
it easy on the descent and got caught and out sprinted.” But when it
comes to racing up hill tactics are minimal, and it’s usually man against
the mountain. His climbing ability was highlighted in another Colorado classic
– the Mount Evans Hill Climb, where the course record stood to a certain
Tyler Hamilton; “This was another race that showed me that I could accomplish
things which I felt were unattainable. Breaking Tyler Hamilton's record was
a reinforcer (by over one minute!) that my training was really coming together.
Also, it was motivation that the harder I worked the better I could climb.”
Closing his first road season with a win in the Collegiate National Mountain
Bike Championships (his girlfriend Kristen Johnson of Team T-Mobile also too
the women’s title) Tom finished up his studies in Durango; ” I graduated
in December with two degrees; Marketing and Psychology, from Fort Lewis College.”
It was decision time; chase the rainbow as a pro bike racer or go to work
in the real world? Well, there was no choice here! He already had offers on
the table from several teams – including Lance Armstrong’s US Postal
team:” I really want to go to Europe, but I figure I really need to learn
a lot more first – going to Saturn seems to be the best move. Here I
have less pressure. Instead of racing day in day out and not getting chance
to learn I get the opportunity to go and ride races like Langkawi and The
Peace Race and then come home and work on the experience.” Wise words,
and a very sensible approach, especially when he gets the opportunity to learn
the ropes in good time from the likes of Nathan O’Neil and Chris Horner.
With Postal there is not such room for grooming. It’s pretty well the
month of July show, and rookies have little chance to cut their teeth; “Maybe
next year – or the following year. I’ll take my
time and learn, then make decisions by talking to my teammates and others.
Postal
may be possible, but I hope other teams will be open too.”
Eastern promise
Langkawi
was Tom’s first race of the season, and his first with Saturn. Rolling
up second on the start line for the prologue time trail he was all but anonymous.
Most of the seeded pros were still breakfasting. “I’m totally in
awe of these guys – Roland Green is one of my idols – and guys like
Lanfranchi and Munoz, such great champions.” Marvelled the young American
as he waited for the off. A couple of hours later and he was standing third
on the podium, a subtle warning to the rest of the field; “He made a
lot of mistakes, he could have picked up several seconds by using the road.
But he’s here to learn.” Commented Andrzej Bek, team manager. The
podium placing was a big shock to Tom; “I’m not really a powerful
time trialist – I’m good over distance and in the hills – but
this was short and fast, I really didn’t expect this.”
As the race headed to the mainland for a series of fast moving road stages
the Saturn team had the yellow jersey, and had several other riders in the
top ten – including Danielson.
The racing was fast, and accident packed. The fast finishes resulted in a
number of nasty crashes; “ I was really nervous, so I just rode in the
wind over the closing kilometres to stay out of trouble.” These crashes
were to prove fateful, resulting in several stitches for teammate Nathan O’Neil,
and an unexpected yellow jersey for Tom. Suddenly the game had changed, and
the pressure was on. “ It was very stressful! I just kept low and pretended
that it wasn't such big race.
It was tough having attention on you because any mistakes made would be public.
I could no longer hide and hope maybe to sneak out a decent ride like I had
hoped. It was either I came through or I didn't. But still, no one thought
I could do it, including myself, so I had nothing to loose!” The hotel
phone didn’t stop ringing, and the news hungry race media hit hard; “
I was angry at first – some times these guys are so friendly, then they
twist things – but I guess that’s there job, I’m learning that.”
The learning curve was bending to extreme proportions, but he was handling
it well, thanks to a hunger to listen and learn. Many smaller riders have
fallen fowl to a sense of arrival and arrogance in such situations –
but it was obvious that this was not the case with Tom; he remained totally
humble and eager to learn. Either way, now he was well and truly swimming
in the deep end, and a major storm was brewing. There were just a three stages
left in the race, one fairly hilly – the crucial climb to Genting and
a formal closing city centre crit. Saturn had their work cut out to keep the
jersey; “ I could not believe how strong the team rode. The guys controlled
things so well against much
bigger teams. On the hilly stage before Genting I was very nervous. On the
climbs the Columbians were attacking, but I was really comfortable, but on
the descents I was losing time. It was just like China again, only this time
I kept it together and didn’t lose time.”
It was proving to be a crash course in becoming a pro bike rider – how
to in ten days;” Horner is keeping me sane. He’s done the race before
and is lightening things some and making me relax. I think the key is to keep
in the middle emotionally, that way I don’t get too excited – and
can handle the downs – and it keeps my feet on the ground.”
The crucial Genting Highlands stage is traditionally the overall decider in
this race. It’s an evil 25 km beast, incredibly steep and so humid that
it’s hard to breath. Last year Munoz romped away to take the victory
here, and with several Columbians just a few seconds behind him it was set
to be D Day. Predictably within a couple of kilometres of hitting the climb
the race was down to Danielson, Roland Green, Munoz and his team mate Gonzalez.
It was a situation that had been anticipated; “ He’s on his own
now. He just has to stay with them, and hope they don’t work him over.”
Mused Bek. “ Roland was attacking like crazy at first, but I was really
comfortable. Then Munoz was going,
but I was still comfortable. He was making the mistake of attacking me on
the hard sections, that’s where I’m strongest.” Coming into
the final two kilometres and the road veered up. Munoz was side by side with
Danielson. As things got closer Danielson slipped behind and prepared to attack;
“Andrzej was yelling from that car, telling me not to attack. Then coming
in to the sprint I went to come around him and slipped a pedal. Luckily I
stayed upright and didn’t lose time.” The race was effectively signed
sealed and delivered to Mr Danielson, and somewhat unexpectedly. “ I
knew we could do well with Tom, but I did not think we could do anything like
this.” Grinned Bek. “I was very focused on this race. I did not
think I could do that well, but I wanted to be fit enough so that I could
ride in the field and learn from such accomplished riders. I
went there to learn and to become a better rider, I had no idea that I could
finish within the top 30. I just wanted to finish.” Reflected Tom after
the race. He is absorbing information and experience like a rampant piranha,
which combined with his humble nature and amazing talent on a bike mark him
out as potentially a great tour champion; “I am not a rider who sits
back and rests on my laurels. Obviously I need to work on my cornering and
descending, but everywhere needs work. I will never be completely satisfied
with my riding, but that is the beauty of this sport. There is always room
for constant improvement, and everyone is always pushing the bar higher! I
am ready to work hard and learn, and that has to be in Europe. My ultimate
goal is the Tour de France. I am very motivated to get there, and hopefully
I’ll learn along my path to that
race, and learn how to race it well.”
What they say about the boy
Ed Zinc, organiser of Iron Horse Bicycle Classic, Durango
"Tom came to Fort Lewis College and on the Tuesday
night Durango Wheel Club rides he was challenging people like Ned Overend
on the hills so all the riders noticed him. He then started receiving mentoring
from the communities' more experienced cyclists.
Tom has great self-discipline as a young rider and appears to have an exceptionally
good motor. Tom has already entered the Durango Wall of Fame at Mountain Bike
Specialists with a National jersey and MBS is making room for more."
Bob Roll, ex pro and fellow Durango cyclist
"Anaemic, vacuous, skinny, white zombie from hell - which happens to be the best combo for a road racer from the United States capable of slaughtering the Euro dogs at their own pitiful games!"
Ned Overend, ex road pro and MTB and X-Terra World Champ
“ I’ve been training with Tom for some time. I always used to be a little faster than him on hill intervals, but not any more. He is seriously talented – and has real euro potential.”
Hernan Dario Munoz, Columbia – Selle Italia – beaten into second place in this years Langkawi race
“ This year the race was so tough, much harder than last year. We thought that we would be able to win the race on Genting. But Danielson surprised us, and was so strong. He made it hard all of the way on the climb.”
Andrzej Bek, Saturn team manager
“ I didn’t really know of Tom When I came to the team this year. He has a lot of talent, but even I did not expect him to perform so well as this. He has a lot to learn, but is learning fast – he has good riders around him to help him. I think we will probably lose him to a European team eventually – but that’s okay. “
Roland Green, World Mountain Bike Champion and KOM in Langkawi
“He can certainly climb, and time trial. I think he has huge potential. He’s new to it all, but he does not have a big ego, so he learns real fast and keeps his feet on the ground. I think he was right not going to Postal this year, and I’m sure he’ll end up on a big team in the next year or two.”
Chris Wherry, ex Mercury team mate
“ He has amazing power, and can climb so well. In the Estes Park race nobody could touch him. The team had to tell him how to race, it was quite funny – but he is learning fast, he has great potential.”
Le Tour de Langkawi, how it unfolded
Prologue, Langkawi; Saturn time trial specialist Nathan
O’Neil from Australia wins ahead of Canada’s Roland Green and team
mate Tom Danielson. Mid race stages; fast and furious racing saw a series
of bunch finishes as the race headed south then down the east coast of Malaysia.
Lampre’s Brazilian sprinter Luciano Pagliarini takes three stage wins
before Australian Graeme Brown takes over as top sprinter. In between Stuart
O’Grady grabs a stage win.
Over excitement leads to a series of crashes in the stage finishes. O’Neil
loses time in one such crash, while Green punctures – result is that
Danielson takes over the yellow jersey.
Stage 8 to Seremban; a hilly stage results in some attacking racing, though
by the finish the leading riders are all at the head of the race, no change
overall.
Stage 9 to Genting; the big day! Racing is well controlled to the foot of
the decisive climb. Green is in attacking mode, and soon it comes down to
a race between the two Columbians, Green and Danielson. Eventually Munoz’s
persistent attacking leaves him out front with Danielson for company. Danielson
sticks with last year’s winner, who takes the stage.
Stage 10; KL critirium. A mid race rainstorm makes for a tense finale, with
Munoz falling. No change overall – Danielson wins ahead of Munoz.
Overall
1. Tom Danielson – Seam Saturn 31.54.09
2. Hernan Dario Munoz – Columbia Selle Italia @ 09
3. Freddy Gonzalez – Columbia Selle Italia @ 1.44
KOM Roland Green – Canada
Points Graeme Brown – Panaria
Asian rider Tomoya Kayo – Japan
Team Columbia Selle Italia
Tom Danielson fact file
Born 13/3/78 in East Lyme, Connecticut USA
Height 5’.10”
Weight 129lbs
Lives Durango, Colorado
Web site www.tomdanielson.com
Teams 2003 Saturn, 2002 signed for Mercury, 1999-2001 Sobe/Headshock MTB
First race MTB races 1994
MTB results 1996 NCS MTB Junior XC Champion, national team MTB Worlds. 2001
& 2002 Collegiate National MTB Champion.
2002 first road race season, good overall and stage placings at Tour of Gila
(signed by Mercury), Stages and overall wins at Estes Park Challenge, record
breaking win in Mount Evans Hill Climb, winner of Quinghai Lake Tour, China.
2003 signs for Saturn and wins first race of the season – Tour de Langkawi.
