Tom Danielson

Tom Danielson
	Danielson at the 2014 Tour of Alberta
Personal information
Full name	Thomas Danielson
Nickname	Tom or Tommy D
Born	March 13, 1978 (age 46); East Lyme, Connecticut, United States
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	62 kg (137 lb)
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Climber
Amateur team
1999–2001	SoBe/Headshok
Professional teams
2002	Mercury Cycling Team
2003	Saturn Cycling Team
2004	Fassa Bortolo
2005–2007	Discovery Channel
2008–2015	Slipstream–Chipotle
Major wins
	Tour of Qinghai Lake (2002) ; Tour de Langkawi (2003) ; Cascade Cycling Classic (2003) ; Mount Evans Hill Climb (2004, 2007, 2009) ; Tour of Utah (2013, 2014)

Thomas Danielson (born March 13, 1978) is an American retired professional road racing cyclist who competed professionally between 2002 and 2015 for the Mercury Cycling Team (2002), the Saturn Cycling Team (2003), Fassa Bortolo (2004), Discovery Channel (2005–2007) and Cannondale–Garmin (2008–2015).^[2] He had been suspended twice for doping in his career.

Career

Early years

Danielson holds the record for the fastest ascent of Mount Washington, New Hampshire, in the Mount Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb.^[3]^[4] The previous record holder was professional cyclist Tyler Hamilton. He also holds the record for the Mount Evans Hill Climb in Colorado, which traverses the highest paved road in North America.^[5]^[6] The previous record holder was Jonathan Vaughters, who was Danielson's manager on his last professional team.^[5]^[7]

In 2004, Danielson had an uneventful stint on the Italian UCI ProTeam Fassa Bortolo, missing the early spring campaign because of visa problems.^[8] Subsequently, he raced for the American UCI ProTour team Discovery Channel, with which he won the 2005 Tour de Georgia and the 2006 Tour of Austria.^[9]^[10] After Discovery Channel disbanded at the end of 2007, Danielson became part of the Slipstream–Chipotle team.^[11]

2010

Danielson started the season by finishing twelfth at both the Tour Méditerranéen and the Tour du Haut Var. Following his two twelfth-place finishes, Danielson, however, struggled through Paris–Nice, finishing only fifty-second overall. Following, Paris–Nice, Danielson regained his form at the Tour of the Gila, placing second to Levi Leipheimer (Team RadioShack). A couple of weeks later, Danielson rode the Tour of California, but was unable to complete the race. After California, Danielson returned to form at the Tour de Suisse, finishing twenty-fifth overall. Following Suisse, Danielson finished in eighth place at both the Tour de Pologne and the Trofeo Melinda. A month later, Danielson rode his fifth Vuelta a España. He completed the race as the highest placed American, in eighth place. Danielson concluded the season with a thirty-ninth place at the Giro dell'Emilia.

2011

Danielson started the season with the Vuelta a Mallorca, and finished thirty-sixth in the third classic, the Trofeo Deia. Danielson, however, was unable to complete the fourth and fifth classics, the Trofeo Magaluf-Palmanova and the Trofeo Inca. Following the Spanish races, Danielson finished thirty-first overall at the Volta ao Algarve, and a preseason best of twentieth overall at the Vuelta a Murcia. However, after Murcia, Danielson's form deteriorated, finishing fifty-fifth overall at the Volta a Catalunya, forty-seventh at the GP Miguel Induráin, and eightieth overall at the Tour of the Basque Country. Danielson withdrew from racing after these races, and focused on rebuilding his form. A few weeks later, Danielson returned to racing, and finished twentieth overall at the Tour de Romandie. Danielson finished third overall at the Tour of California, and ninth overall at the Tour de Suisse, which ultimately led him to a Tour de France debut. At the Tour, Danielson rode well, and finished as the highest placed American, in eighth place.^[12]^[13]^[14] After the Tour, Danielson finished fifth overall at the Tour of Utah, and fourth overall at the inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge. Following the two American stage races, Danielson concluded the season with an eighty-sixth place at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal.

2012

After being unable to complete the Tour de Langkawi, Danielson returned to form during the Volta a Catalunya, where he finished twelfth overall, and second in the mountains classification. Following Catalunya, Danielson finished twentieth at the Tour of the Basque Country, and offered a good showing at the Tour of California, where he took fifth place in the "queen stage" of the race, a finish at altitude at the winter ski station of Mount Baldy.^[15] He also came in ninth place in stage five's individual time trial, therefore keeping a high placing in the overall classification.^[16] These performances helped him climb to third overall.^[17] After California, Danielson finished eleventh at the United States National Road Race Championships, seventh at the Tour de Suisse, and was selected to start his second Tour de France. However, due to injuries sustained from crashes, Danielson abandoned the Tour during stage six. The following month, Danielson returned to competition at the Tour of Utah, where he finished eleventh overall, and assisted with stage two's team time trial win. After Utah, Danielson competed in the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, where he finished seventh overall, and by soloing up and over Independence Pass, won stage three. Bicycling subsequently named the stage, "the most exciting day of road racing on American soil".^[18]

2013

Following his six-month ban, Danielson returned to racing at the Volta a Catalunya, where he finished tenth overall. After Catalunya, Danielson, however, was unable to complete the GP Miguel Induráin, but returned to form during the Tour of the Basque Country, where he finished eleventh overall. Danielson continued to ride strong, and finished fourth overall at the Tour de Romandie. Danielson started the Giro d'Italia hoping to assist teammate Ryder Hesjedal in a repeat victory, however, Hesjedal withdrew following stage twelve. After Hesjedal's departure, Danielson was able to ride for himself, but fell ill during the latter weeks, and finished only 49th overall.^[19] In June, Danielson was selected to start his third Tour de France as a domestique; he finished the Tour in 60th place.^[19] Following the Tour, Danielson competed in, and won the Tour of Utah.^[20]^[21]^[22] Danielson concluded the season by finishing third overall at the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.^[23]^[24]

2014

In August, Danielson returned to racing at the Tour of Utah and won the general classification for the second consecutive year.^[25] He also finished second at the USA Pro Cycling Challenge in August. The following month, Danielson confirmed his participation in the Icon LASIK Tour of the Moon.^[26]

2015

For 2015 cycling events, Danielson was sponsored by Cannondale, Full Speed Ahead (FSA), Icon Lasik, Mavic, Smith Optics, Prestige Imports, Vega Sport and Biotta.^[27]^[28]

On January 20, 2015, actor Patrick Dempsey and Tom Danielson hosted a cycling event in Arizona called "Ride On, Tucson!" featuring a 2.5-mile (4.0-kilometre) downtown circuit that was completely closed to traffic for three hours.^[29]

In March, Danielson won the mountains classification at the Volta a Catalunya. In May, Danielson abandoned the Giro d'Italia because of a knee injury.^[30]

Doping

In a September 2012 online-forum post, Garmin–Sharp team manager and owner Jonathan Vaughters stated that Danielson had used blood doping products to increase oxygen delivery to his muscles.^[31] On October 10, 2012, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced that Danielson would be suspended for six months after admitting to doping during his time with Discovery Channel.^[32]^[33] Later that day, the organization issued a statement confirming his acceptance to a six-month ban from September 1, 2012, to March 1, 2013. The action included the stripping of all race results between March 1, 2005, and September 23, 2006.^[34] Danielson released his own statement a day later that expressed regret at his decision to "cross the line." "I accept responsibility for my choices and apologize to everyone in my life for them – in and out of the sport", he said.^[33]

In August 2015, Danielson revealed he tested positive for synthetic testosterone.^[35] In October 2016, he accepted a four-year suspension for "unintentionally consuming" dehydroepiandrosterone.^[36]^[37]

Personal

Born in East Lyme, Connecticut, Danielson currently resides in Longmont, Colorado.^[2]^[38]^[39] After spending his childhood years in Connecticut, Danielson attended Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado.^[39]

In May of 2023, Danielson had a finger amputation and left hand reconstruction to remove a cancerous tumor. Danielson's X post said "Gave the middle finger to cancer!".^[40]

Sponsorships

In 2013, Danielson signed a sponsoring agreement with Icon Lasik, a Colorado-based provider of cataract, LASIK, as well as the organizer of Tour of the Moon. The contract was signed after he had won 2013 Tour of Utah.^[41]

In August 2014, he signed a sponsorship contract with Cannondale Bicycle Corporation for 2015, together with 13 other riders, as a part of the new relationship between Cannondale Bicycle Corporation, the American bicycle manufacturer, and Slipstream Sports, the sports management group behind the Garmin–Sharp UCI ProTeam.^[42]

He also has sponsorship agreements with Mavic,^[43] Smith Optics, Prestige Imports, Vega Sport^[44] and Biotta.