Here we go again...

andyp

...this season will see the real Tom Danielson;

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/tom ... ery-ticket

No, really.

:roll:

disgruntledgoat

Just read that... As a guy who suffers badly with the mental side of racing a bike, I have some sympathy for him. But for gods sake man just stop talking! Stop it!

Kléber

The trouble is that each time you're just about to write him off, the flame flickers back to life. He was dropped from Garmin's Tour squad last July, only to bounce back in August. He would have had a strong Vuelta were it not for gastric flu.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda. He's proved a far more disappointing rider than most, if only because he has the engine to achieve more than average. Many riders promise a lot but don't deliver, I suppose if he was born Danielsen or Daniello then most of us would have forgotten about him.

afx237vi

Kléber wrote:

The trouble is that each time you're just about to write him off, the flame flickers back to life. He was dropped from Garmin's Tour squad last July, only to bounce back in August. He would have had a strong Vuelta were it not for gastric flu.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda. He's proved a far more disappointing rider than most, if only because he has the engine to achieve more than average. Many riders promise a lot but don't deliver, I suppose if he was born Danielsen or Daniello then most of us would have forgotten about him.

This. If he wasn't an American, no-one would have even heard of the guy.

It's like the way he says he was 9th at the Tour of California and 5th in Missouri last year. As if that is supposed to impress us and make us think well, gee, maybe with results like that he can win a GT after all. Yuriy Trofimov was 9th in Paris-Nice last year and Cyril Lemoine was 5th in Criterium International - any journalists writing puff pieces about those two?

LangerDan

Vaughters is like one of those rich, slightly dotty but well meaning old ladies who collects abandoned animals. His loyalty to TD is touching, but at this stage he should drop him. Tommy has become the David Coulthard of cycling - "Next year will be my year"

Bronzie

LangerDan wrote:

Vaughters is like one of those rich, slightly dotty but well meaning old ladies who collects abandoned animals.

rick_chasey

Staying healthy and being mentally strong are key parts of cycling.

I suffer from the same - and I don't go on about my potential!

I'm a 52odd kg cyclist who regularly get rinsed by his mates who weigh almost twice that up mountains. It's not because they're physically better than me - it's that they can self destruct and push themselves in ways I cannot.

Danielson's probably suffers from similar - all the right stats - but not the right head.

I guess the opposite of Hammond and Cavendish.

iainf72

If he was French he'd be on €1m a year, surely?

Anyway, I don't know how you lot can live with yourselves dissing an eskimo with demons. Do you have no shame?

moray_gub

afx237vi wrote:

Kléber wrote:

The trouble is that each time you're just about to write him off, the flame flickers back to life. He was dropped from Garmin's Tour squad last July, only to bounce back in August. He would have had a strong Vuelta were it not for gastric flu.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda. He's proved a far more disappointing rider than most, if only because he has the engine to achieve more than average. Many riders promise a lot but don't deliver, I suppose if he was born Danielsen or Daniello then most of us would have forgotten about him.

This. If he wasn't an American, no-one would have even heard of the guy.

To be fair he has won a stage in the Vuelta so most cycling fans would have heard of him irrespective of his nationality.

afx237vi

Moray Gub wrote:

afx237vi wrote:

This. If he wasn't an American, no-one would have even heard of the guy.

To be fair he has won a stage in the Vuelta so most cycling fans would have heard of him irrespective of his nationality.

Fair enough, I exaggerated for effect, but my point was that dozens of riders have similar or better results than him without being tipped for grand tour glory.

He is a decent rider, but next week he'll be 32 and is still to even start an edition of the Tour.

dennisn

disgruntledgoat wrote:

Just read that... As a guy who suffers badly with the mental side of racing a bike, I have some sympathy for him. But for gods sake man just stop talking! Stop it!

For whatever reason he seems to remain a "person of interest" in the cycling world and
people still write about him and people still read what he says. Maybe that explains why he keeps talking. What else can he say except what has already been said . They ask
him how his cycling is coming along and he answers. I would imagine that he would stop talking when they quit asking. My wife used to ask me how work went, pretty much on a daily basis, but with my answers being pretty much the same everyday she eventually
quit asking and now waits for me to volunteer any real news.

EKIMIKE

He seems quite legit to me. Seems pretty unfortunate that he has incredible numbers on a rig test yet suffers mentally and physically (anyone else read about his eskimo digestive tendencies and consequent dietry difficulties?). He came to cycling very late so he's probably a fresher 32 year old than most. Even if he doesn't make it as a 'winner' then he might be a seriously valuable asset for VDV, Zabriskie and Martin. Well done to Vaughters for giving him such incredible support.

dennisn

afx237vi wrote:

Kléber wrote:

The trouble is that each time you're just about to write him off, the flame flickers back to life. He was dropped from Garmin's Tour squad last July, only to bounce back in August. He would have had a strong Vuelta were it not for gastric flu.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda. He's proved a far more disappointing rider than most, if only because he has the engine to achieve more than average. Many riders promise a lot but don't deliver, I suppose if he was born Danielsen or Daniello then most of us would have forgotten about him.

This. If he wasn't an American, no-one would have even heard of the guy.

It's like the way he says he was 9th at the Tour of California and 5th in Missouri last year. As if that is supposed to impress us and make us think well, gee, maybe with results like that he can win a GT after all. Yuriy Trofimov was 9th in Paris-Nice last year and Cyril Lemoine was 5th in Criterium International - any journalists writing puff pieces about those two?

Not sure who you are complaining about. TD or the journalist's?? Not sure it's TD's fault if the press writes puff pieces about him. After all we're talking about the media here and it seems to me to be pretty well known that they will write about anything that might sell copy. They have to make a buck too.

Kléber

I (try to) read the Belgium, French and Italian cycling websites and this guy almost never gets a mention.

dennisn

Kléber wrote:

I (try to) read the Belgium, French and Italian cycling websites and this guy almost never gets a mention.

I can only guess that those countries are more interested in their own athletes than some other countries sports stars. Makes some sense. Nationalistic pride. That sort of thing. Cyclingnews maybe caters more to the U.S. - English sector?????

Kléber

Exactly Dennis.

DaveyL

So who's right?

donrhummy

The lottery ticket analogy is almost right. Really you do have a chance to win, but not a million, maybe 100,000 and he doesn't cost $1 (or the minimum wage in pro cycling) so, really it's like buying a ton of lottery tickets. So if you lose, you're out a lot of money.

dennisn

DaveyL wrote:

So who's right?

About what?????? :? :?

afx237vi

dennisn wrote:

Not sure who you are complaining about. TD or the journalist's?? Not sure it's TD's fault if the press writes puff pieces about him. After all we're talking about the media here and it seems to me to be pretty well known that they will write about anything that might sell copy. They have to make a buck too.

Sure, it's the journalists who write the pieces knowing that a story about the next English-speaking GT hope will sell more copies than something about a Spaniard or a German or whatever. That's their job.

But whenever I read stuff about Danielson, you really get the impression that he believes the hype. Still. Does, say, Tadej Valjavec go to bed each night thinking he can win a GT this year? I don't know, maybe he does, but in reality he has about as much chance as TD.

There has to come a point where you admit defeat and focus on other areas. Shorter stage races, winning stages, being a better team mate. Cycling is not all about winning GTs.

andyp

I still lol when he said he was going to race Lombardy to win in 2008. He was at least 5 minutes down when he passed us on the Ghisallo. My, how we laughed.

The great white hope, with one decent win in his career (and wasn't that a gift from Vino?)

dennisn

afx237vi wrote:

dennisn wrote:

Not sure who you are complaining about. TD or the journalist's?? Not sure it's TD's fault if the press writes puff pieces about him. After all we're talking about the media here and it seems to me to be pretty well known that they will write about anything that might sell copy. They have to make a buck too.

Sure, it's the journalists who write the pieces knowing that a story about the next English-speaking GT hope will sell more copies than something about a Spaniard or a German or whatever. That's their job.

But whenever I read stuff about Danielson, you really get the impression that he believes the hype. Still. Does, say, Tadej Valjavec go to bed each night thinking he can win a GT this year? I don't know, maybe he does, but in reality he has about as much chance as TD.

There has to come a point where you admit defeat and focus on other areas. Shorter stage races, winning stages, being a better team mate. Cycling is not all about winning GTs.

I don't think you can overlook the possibility of a, so called, flash in the pan winning a big one, be it TV or TD. Maybe winning the big one is what TD really wants. I'll grant you that there are plenty of other races in which you can make a name for yourself but people want what they want, and If it's a GT win, well, nothing else will do, I guess. What about Joop Z? Took him a few years but he finally won the big one. Perseverance is the key - gotta keep trying.

afx237vi

Joop Z had 9 top 10 finishes before he won the big one. Tommy D could be waiting a loooooooong time.

moray_gub

andyp wrote:

I still lol when he said he was going to race Lombardy to win in 2008. He was at least 5 minutes down when he passed us on the Ghisallo. My, how we laughed.

The great white hope, with one decent win in his career (and wasn't that a gift from Vino?)

You laughed at pro cyclist becuase he was mins down during a classic one day race ................seriously ?

eh

To be fair for the amount of column inches he gets, he is proper rubbish, and the rumour is he can't even ride in the bunch FFS :roll:

RichN95.

eh wrote:

To be fair for the amount of column inches he gets, he is proper rubbish, and the rumour is he can't even ride in the bunch FFS :roll:

He has come 6th and 7th in the Vuelta. If he was British, half of us would have been hyping him up. (The other half would have been pouring scorn on him).

Every sport has places for certain characters - the greats, the fallen heroes, the villians, the flawed geniuses, the unfulfilled talents, the unsung heroes, the cursed losers, the media darlings, etc. He fits one of them, so gets press coverage.

shinyhelmut

He makes a living out of cycling. If the fact the English speaking media hype him up means he earns a few more $ then who can blame him for humo(u)ring them.

Maybe he's decided that being hyped as a GT contendor by the American/British media is financially better for him than admitting it'll never actually happen?

andyp

Moray Gub wrote:

You laughed at pro cyclist becuase he was mins down during a classic one day race ................seriously ?

Yes we did. Mainly because of his pre-race comments;

http://www.cyclingnews.com/editions/lat ... er-16-2008

He was at least 5 mins down with 50 kms to go. Sometimes saying nothing is better, especially when you've never ridden the race before.

pedro118118

This 'Peter Pan' of cycling thing is a bit tiresome.
He is clearly a gifted athlete, otherwise he would've been cast aside years ago.
Problem is, he's clearly flakey and the chances of him exercising those demons at 32 are pretty slim I would think.
I would not put him in the 'laughing stock' category though - a GT stage win is more than most could ever dream of...

moray_gub

andyp wrote:

Moray Gub wrote:

You laughed at pro cyclist becuase he was mins down during a classic one day race ................seriously ?

Yes we did. Mainly because of his pre-race comments;

http://www.cyclingnews.com/editions/lat ... er-16-2008

He was at least 5 mins down with 50 kms to go. Sometimes saying nothing is better, especially when you've never ridden the race before.

So he said this

"My team has faith in me that I can do a good result here, and I would really love to do so. What is a good result? Well, in my opinion that would be leaving it all out there and riding at the highest level possible for me. If I do that, then I will be there with the best."

He wouldnt be the first nor will he be the last rider that bigged up his chances before an event and flopped. Dont get this laughing at a rider though been to loads of races and always try to encourage the tail end charlies (copyright David Duffield) not laugh at them .

moray_gub

pedro118118 wrote:

This 'Peter Pan' of cycling thing is a bit tiresome.
He is clearly a gifted athlete, otherwise he would've been cast aside years ago.
Problem is, he's clearly flakey and the chances of him exercising those demons at 32 are pretty slim I would think.
I would not put him in the 'laughing stock' category though - a GT stage win is more than most could ever dream of...

Taking the start line in a Monument is more than most could ever dream of, no laughing stock issue there for me either.