Tom Danielson needs to acknowledge he has just been a big, sore disappointment as DC's Vuelta leader.
Some little snippets from his cyclingnews diary:
September 11: "I finished a little over a minute off the best time in the race against the clock today [Tom was 12th, 1'14 behind winner David Millar]. I would have liked to have been closer but we will see if I can improve in the next few days."
Translation: I haven't done anything particularly well on this Vuelta, and I was beaten by Stijn Devolder within the team in the ITT.
Septmeber 7:"I am down in the GC for a number of different reasons. Right now I don't have one clear objective, whether it is GC or a stage win; I just want to come out and show that I am strong, show that I am a fighter and show that I am not a quitter."
Translation: I'm in a really bad position, cos I have lost all hope of podiuming. I even thought about quitting, but I had to keep myself from doing that.
September 3: "Well, I was stronger today than in the other mountain stages, that is for sure. I was with the first guys, but Johan asked me to wait for Janez. That is what I had to do. I lost time the other day…I still don’t know why that happened, but my legs are better now. Today I was easy on the back of Marchante when Sastre attacked. Those guys were going across to Vino and Kashechkin and I was there. But when your teammate is in the gold jersey, I guess that is what you have to do… I can’t explain why I was so bad in the first few days, but today I felt good. It is very disappointing the way things turned out earlier on in the race. I am happy for Janez, the way things turned out for him [taking gold] but I am disappointed that I had that bad day, and also lost a bit of time on the first mountain stage.... As regards my plans from this point on, I will have to listen to what Johan says and see what I can do. I would love to win a stage. I will try, but first I would like to climb with the best guys. Today I felt like I could have…if you watched the stage on TV, you could see that I could have. …"
Translation: I resent that Johan told me to wait for Janez. Life sucks when one doesn't ride well and one has to heed the instructions of one's DS (gasp!). I'm now stuck in a domestique role. Why did this happen to me, and why is Janez taking over the spotlight within the team when I was designated leader? Hmm, maybe I shouldn't have said all those nasty things about being back-up leader for the Giro, where I also sucked, I guess. But I am young because I have so little European experience, even though my actual calendar age is not that that young. Hmm, I have to remind Kirsten to write a nice blurb about my loyalty to Janez in the Kristen's Corner blurb she regularly provides as an adjunct to my PR machine.
September 2: "I felt horrible yesterday. I felt bad the first day in the mountains and then yesterday was absolutely horrible. I could have ridden better up that climb in November! If you look at my performances all year, it just doesn't make any sense. I am not sick, there is nothing wrong with me - I have no idea what happened. I have never ridden that bad in my life. I was 36th on the mountain stage... 36th! I have never finished 36th on a mountain stage. I would like to tell you what is going to happen from now on but I can't. Yesterday was a very disappointing day for me. It was very difficult for me mentally when I realised in the first minute on the climb that I was going as hard as I could but there was no power coming out of my legs."
Translation: I sucked really really bad yestereday. I was "absolutely horrible".
August 30: "Today was the first day in the mountains of the 2006 Vuelta. It was windy and hard and just really hot. I didn't feel that super on the climb; I was okay, but not super. I am happy in that I didn't lose that much time despite having a bad day. think it might just be a case of the first day in the mountains. This is a special race, a long race, so there is a long way to go."
Translation: I was really bad in the first major climb. Gosh, I'm crossing my fingers things are gonna get better. Because I could become domestique to others on the DC squad soon. Now humiliating that would be for a self-annointed super-talented cyclist like myself.
