Tyler Farrar had a few high-profile wins already in 2009, but his win this past weekend at the prestigious Vattenfall Cyclassic was by far his biggest career victory to date. Behind solid team support and a blistering finishing kick, Farrar won the German Pro Tour race ahead of several elite sprinters, including Allan Davis, Daniele Bennati, Matti Breschel, and Gerald Ciolek.
Now that he has finally broken through at a big time race, expect great things in the future out of America's best sprinter. Farrar has worked long and hard, taking no shortcuts on the road to cycling stardom, and his perseverance is beginning to pay off. He was close to winning stages at this past year's Tour de France, coming second to Mark Cavendish twice, but he never got discouraged. And even though Cavendish will continue to dominate the world of sprinting for the foreseeable future, Farrar is getting stronger with each race he enters, and looking more and more like Cavendish's number one competitor.
Tyler Farrar is excelling in an area of cycling that few Americans have been able to in the past. While America puts out a good handful of elite stage racers and time trialers, there have been few sprinters who have been successful in Europe for the Stars & Stripes the past 20 years. Farrar is changing all that though, and at only 25 he should be a force on the sprinting scene for years to come.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Big Time: Garmin's Top Gun Tyler Farrar Ascends to Elite Sprinter Status With Vattenfall Cyclassic Win
Some sprinters are known for being a bit tentative unless the conditions are ideal, but not Farrar. In fact, in addition to being a strong pure sprinter, he also possesses the skill set to excel in the hardman's classics like Paris-Roubaix, Gent-Wevelgem, and the Tour of Flanders. He still probably needs another season or two before he can seriously hope to win one of the tough spring classics, but one day he will at a minimum notch a podium finish in one of the Belgian cobbled-classics over the next three to five years . For the remainder of 2009, he'll be able to count on the support of the Garmin team, and the newly signed Robbi Hunter will prove an invaluable asset as the Garmin team looks to thwart Columbia-HTC next season. For now though Farrar will celebrate a wildly successful 2009 as he looks forward to an even better 2010.
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1 comments:
I would argue that right now Tyler is the second fastest guy on two wheels. Cav is the first, but Tyler is catching up. The one thing Cav has going for him is a superb team that has the leadout perfected to an art form. I think if Garmin can get a little better with the leadout Tyler can beat Cav.
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