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A new start: The Tom Danielson diary 2005
After his ill-fated stint with Fassa Bortolo in 2004, likable American climbing specialist Tom Danielson looks to have found a more conducive home for 2005 with Lance Armstrong's Discovery Channel team. Follow his diary on Cyclingnews as he rides alongside the Boss as part of Discovery's ProTour arsenal.
Vuelta a Espana: September 7, 2005
Unchartered territory
Hi there Cyclingnews readers,
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It's been real busy lately, but I've got a chance to catch back up now as we are on a rest day. Today, the team travelled to where we are now and rode a bit to open up our legs. Then I took a nap and just relaxed. I have never raced this many days before, so this is all new to me.
I am pretty pleased with how things are going. My only goal is to finish, but as we get a bit closer to Madrid, I feel a bit more satisfied. I feel strong, I feel recovered and I am very happy with my ride.
I was very pleased with my time trial on stage 9, especially as I had never done a time trial that long before. I conserved energy in the beginning because I was afraid of exploding in the end. I finished strong, so I was happy with how I rode that TT.
We've gone over some pretty big climbs in the race. In training, I have done mountains like that, but never in racing. I really like them, though, I feel strong. But as I said before, this is my first Grand Tour and so my endurance isn't as high as that of the top riders. When I arrive at the last mountain, I am certainly a little bit weaker than the first four guys. But I still feel very strong in the mountains, I don't feel weak at all. I feel like I am still going up them fast.
My goal is to remain consistent, to learn how my body is doing, so next year I can improve upon it and go a lot faster. For now, I am really focused on not going 110 percent on the mountains, because I don't know what my body will do the next day, or the day after that. For me, it is just a case of going as fast as I can while also holding a little back.
The reason is that I really don't want to be emptying the tank and perhaps not finishing the race. Although I am in the top ten at the moment, I don't want to think about that too much. After all, my main goal is to get to Madrid. The objective here is to learn how to best ride this kind of event so that I arrive next year with the possibility to go for the win in one of these races.
All that said, besides finishing the Vuelta, I'd like to do well in one of the stages. I don't know much about those coming up, but there is one stage which has a steep climb at the end and it is over a shorter distance. So I think I'd like to try something there, at Lagos de Covadonga. I am going to ride exactly as I have done all race, but we will see if I am bit closer to the front. I want to improve in the time trials, too, so I would like to do a good final TT the day before the Vuelta ends.
Anyway, that's my update on how things have been going. For the remainder of this rest day I am going to take it easy. As I said, I've had my nap and now I'll get a massage, eat, recover and rest. It's all about getting ready for tomorrow!
Until the next time,
Tom
Stage 8 results
Stage 9 results
Stage 10 results
Stage 11 results