A late bloomer- The Tom Danielson diary

Tom Danielson's top 10 in last year's Vuelta a Espana provided Discovery with enough evidence to nominate him as their sole Vuelta leader.

Danielson is a relative late-comer to the sport and is still learning his trade. He will be detailing his progress in this special diary for Cyclingnews during the race.

August 30: First time in the mountains

Hi there Cyclingnews readers,

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.

I 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.

The stage winner Danilo Di Luca and a few others got away from me with two or three kilometres remaining. When Di Luca attacked my legs were cramping a bit and so it was better for me to ride at one speed. Unfortunately I was by myself for a little bit, so I lost a little bit of time.

My teammate was up the road, Janez Brajkovic. He rode a super race today to get second and Triki (Manuel Beltrán) was good as well.

Looking ahead, I think the stages are going to get harder from this point and the results are going to be different. This is a long race and the first day in the mountains doesn't mean a lot. So let’s see how things go from here.

Until the next time,

Tom

Stage 5 results

2006 entries

Vuelta a Espana

• September 16: Looking towards home
• September 14: Inspiration to fight back
• September 13: Feeling the difference
• September 9: Three tough days
• September 7: Aiming for the TT
• September 3: Feeling stronger, but playing the team role
• September 2: Dealing with disappointment
• August 30: First time in the mountains
• August 29: So far so good

Giro d'Italia

• May 10: Seven times the motivation
• May 9: In the right place, at the right time
• May 8: Crazy times

2005 entries

2004 entries

2003 entries

Profile and interview

• An interview with Tom Danielson: Hill climb star, new Saturn signing and 'Next Big Thing'