It’s been a tough few years, but Tom Danielson says it’s still too early to write-off his chances of soon making a big mark on a major tour.

“He’s a big natural talent,” Danielson’s soon-to-be team director at Slipstream-Chipotle, Jonathan Vaughters, told the Denver Post this summer. “He went to Discovery and got caught up in the whole ‘next Lance Armstrong’ thing, which he is not. I don’t know whether he’ll be able to recover from day-to-day like Lance did. In a one-day race, it’s not important. He can win a stage of the Tour de France without a doubt.”

Danielson doesn’t dispute the assertion that he isn’t the “next Lance” – after all, who is? – however, when asked about the possibility of only winning a stage at the Tour de France, the 29-year-old Danielson wasn’t interested. Having experienced his most difficult season to date, dealing first with a persistent stomach bug believed to have been picked up in Malaysia when he won the Tour de Langkawi in 2003, then crashing out of the Vuelta a España on the very first day, breaking his shoulder in the process, the Durango native says there’s nothing – or no one - stopping him now.

“It’s difficult to read people writing stuff about you, but as I’ve gained more experience, learning from people around me, you really need to take your head out of the media and put it into your racing,” Danielson observed.

“I’ve learned so much from this year - falling down and pulling myself back up again, falling down and getting up again... the two roller-coaster rides I’ve had were way more valuable than anything that’s happened to me.”

He may not yet have ridden La Grande Boucle, but according to Danielson, strong performances at two editions of the Vuelta and two Giri d’Italia, the latter ridden in a support role for Paolo Savoldelli who won in 2005, are proof of his worth as a grand tour rider. Granted, he concedes, there have to be “a few more things to click” before he can legitimately declare he’s a podium contender, though with Slipstream, the environment appears perfect for that to happen.

“To be honest with you, I’m not on top of my grand tour game. I think that I need some help, a little bit more development... I know I can do it. I need to work hard, I need things to go right, and I’m not on anyone’s timeline, I’m on my own.”

Regardless of what Vaughters told the Denver Post back in August, looking at the big names Slipstream has signed – Dave Zabriskie, Christian Vande Velde, Magnus Bäckstedt, David Millar, Julian Dean - it certainly appears that there is an opening to facilitate Tom Danielson’s dream of being team leader at the 2008 Tour de France, should Slipstream be invited.

“Next year, if I have the opportunity and things go well - and they should - I’m going to bank my season on that,” says Danielson. “I’m definitely not going to go there just for experience. I’m going to get experience.”

“I’ve already been talking with people in my team, and we’ve got some really solid plans to build the conditioning that I need and work on some of the weak points that I have, such as the flat stages of the Tour. I don’t just want to ride the Tour de France.”

Danielson declines to be drawn into any conclusions on how he might have fared, other than to say he “probably would’ve done a great race,” but watching the Vuelta this year, won by Russian Denis Menchov, Danielson says one thing in particular stood out for him.

“Just watching Menchov looking relaxed all day long, that’s an example of someone that’s very, very efficient; he’s just using every bit of energy that he has and not wasting it,” he noted. “For me, I’ve learned that was definitely an area holding me back, whereas other people thought, ‘Oh, maybe he’s just inexperienced’. For me, it was just trying too hard in my head, wanting it too bad. When you’re nervous and thinking about something all day long, you’re burning a lot of energy.”

Danielson says like the trajectory of his career, Slipstream has followed a similar path - growing and learning year by year, having aspirations and taking the right path to realize them. And not just by talking about it, actually doing it.

Following his time in the peloton, the opinionated Vaughters has now found himself the perfect niche, transforming into an astute businessman and at the same time, a team manager who genuinely appears to care for his riders, demanding plenty but never asking them to risk health – or ethics – in the interests of victory.

Now, as times are-a-changing within cycling, a sport desperately trying to purge itself of doping controversies, Slipstream is poised to take on the world’s biggest and best events. And Danielson’s delighted to be there.

“They really put their money where their mouth is in terms of talking about making a difference in the sport. For me, this team is more than the other ProTour teams. As of now, it looks like they have starts in all the big races, so my schedule will be exactly the same as it was.

“I didn’t choose this team because it’s comfortable. I looked at it selfishly. I didn’t care what anyone said about me; this is my career, this is my dream and where can I accomplish what I want to do. Basically it’s an added bonus that it’s an American team, but if these same people and these same riders were on another team, I would’ve gone to that one.”

Just six days out of surgery when VeloNews contacted him - of which the first five were more painful than the break itself, he says - Danielson was already back to his optimistic self.

“Luckily it’s not my legs that are injured, so I’m already back on the trainer. Next week, I can go and hike. Pretty soon, I can run. I can do weights. I normally start training November 15th, and come November 15, I’ll be back on the bike for sure.”

“I believe everything happens for a reason,” he says. “There’s no question in my mind that I can overcome anything after overcoming this year.”

---

DOB: March 13, 1978
Hometown: East Lyme, CT
Residence: Durango, CO
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 129 lbs
Strengths: Climbing & Time Trailing
Pro Since: 2004
Hobbies: FishingCareer Highlights:
(2005) 2nd Overall KOM Sachsen Tour International
(2003) 2nd National Time Trial Championhips
(2003) 1st Overall Tour de Langkawi (Malaysia2007
1st Mt. Evans Hill Climb
1st Bartlett Lake Time Trial
2nd Stage #5 Tour de Georgia
3rd Stage #3 Tour of Belgian
4th Stage #4 Tour de Georgia
8th Stage #4 Tour of Belgian
13th Overall Tour de Georgia
14th Stage #5 Amgen Tour of California
14th Stage #1 Vuelta a Castilla y Leon
16th Stage #4 Vuelta a Castilla y Leon
16th Overall Vuelta a Castilla y Leon
17th prologue Amgen Tour of California2006
1st Stage #17 Vuelta a España
1st Overall Tour of Austria
1st Stage #5 Tour de Georgia
2nd Stage #3 Tour de Georgia
2nd Stage #3 Tour of Austria
3rd Stage #6 Tour of Austria
6th Overall Vuelta a España
8th Overall Tour of California
9th Stage #4 Tour of Austria
9th Overall Tour de L'Ain
10th Overall Tirreno-Adriatico
10th Stage #3 Tour de L'Ain
11th Stage #4 Vuelta a España
11th Stage #11 Giro d’Italia
11th Stage #2 Tour de Georgia
12th Stage #1 Giro d'Italia
13th Stage #3 Giro d'Italia
16th Stage #1 Giro d’Italia
17th Stage # 7 Giro d'Italia2005
1st Overall Dodge Tour de Georgia
1st Stage #5 Dodge Tour de Georgia
2nd Stage #5 Setmana Catalana
2nd Stage #4 Tour of Austria
4th Overall Setmana Catalana
5th Overall Tour de Langkawi (Malaysia)
5th Overall Tour of Austria
5th Stage #1 Vuelta a España
5th Stage #9 Vuelta a España
7th Stage #2 Tour of Austria
8th Stage #11 Vuelta a España
8th Overall Vuelta a España2004
1st Mt. Evans Hill Climb
11th Stage #5 Euskal Bizikleta
18th Tour of Romandy
19th Euskal Bizikleta2003
1st Redlands Bicycle Classic
1st Iron Horse Bicycle Classic
1st Mount Washington Hill Climb
1st Tour de Toona (Altoona, PA)
1st Pomona Valley Stage Race (CA)
1st Stage #1 Pomona Valley Stage Race (CA)
1st Overall Tour de Langkawi (Malaysia)
2nd National Time Trial Championship
3rd Stage #1 Tour de Langkawi (Malaysia)2002
1st Mount Washington Hill Climb (Set new Course Record that year)
1st Tour of Qinghai Lake
1st US Collegiate MTB championships
1st Tour de los Alamos
2nd Iron Horse Bicycle Classic
8th Tour of the GilaSource: www.VeloBios.com