Lost among the fanfare of Damiano Cunego's third win at the Giro di Lombardia was the fact that the Garmin team had one of their worst showing of 2008 at the final classic of the season. Of their seven entered riders, five took DNF's including strongman Steve Cozza and time trial ace David Zabriskie. Also not finishing were Huub Duyn, Michael Friedman, and promising young Irishman Daniel Martin. Lucas Euser and Tom Danielson were able to finish the race for the American team, but Euser managed 92nd out of 94 finishers. 94th place was taken by Euser's teammate, the enigmatic Tom Danielson.
Danielson had hoped to do better in the race of the falling leaves, but he came through more than 15 minutes after Cunego. A disappointing season mercifully closes out for Danielson, and the aspiring stage racer will hope for better results in 2009. As for Cozza and Zabriskie, perhaps a long season finally caught up to them, forcing their abandon.
Garmin's Christian Meier has a theory as to why there were so many DNF's, and the youngster was obviously angered that he was not allowed to ride the race. And Garmin wasn't the only team that saw many of its riders abandon. 6 of 8 Milram riders could not complete the day either, suggesting that many of the riders at Lombardy perhaps would have rather been somewhere else. Even Cunego's Lampre team suffered from attrition, as four of their riders did not finish.
The fact that Garmin was unable to manage better than 92nd of 94 riders is a bit concerning. The squad was recently elevated to Pro Tour level, but performances like the one at Lombardy makes the team look as though they don't belong among the world's best teams. In the future, team manager Jonathan Vaughters must take care to field teams that can compete. It is better to start lesser known riders and have them finish a race than it is to send your headliners and see them drop out.
Zabriskie and Cozza have had long seasons. And while Cozza had been going strong since the recent world championships, Zabriskie suffered mightily in Varese and probably could have used the rest in lieu of racing at Lombardy. Perhaps Danny Pate, Will Frischkorn or Pat McCarty would have made better choices for the Lombardy roster. Still, even with the lackluster performance at the last classic of 2008, the Garmin team can still count the 2008 season as a resounding success. Now, each rider will take some much deserved rest and get ready for a 2009 season full of promise.
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1 comments:
Word to that. I remember watching and wondering if they were even there to begin with. Very strange indeed.
It took some of the shine off of an otherwise beautiful race.
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