Liquigas-Cannondale racer didn't enter last week's U.S. National Championship road race as a heavy favorite, but he proved that the odds don't always matter. By wresting the win from an elite breakaway the hard-working American earned the right to don the stars and stripes for the coming year.
Duggan rode .聽After making the early split then nearly getting caught out by the back-to-back attacks of Tejay Van Garderen and Tom Danielson on the final ascent of Paris Mountain, Duggan clawed his way back to the four-man break, slipped away during a lull, and powered to the finish solo. He crossed the line nearly half a minute up on the splintered field to take the biggest victory of his career. The achievement is all the more impressive when you consider that he and his were a two-man team up against powerful 11-man squads like Garmin-Barracuda.
The 29-year-old from Boulder, Colorado, might not have been the odds-on favorite, but the win also shouldn't have come as a huge surprise. Just a few weeks ago at the Amgen Tour of California, Duggan showed impressive form with immense pulls at the head of the field to help set up teammate Peter Sagan's five stage wins. He's had a solid 2012 spring campaign, including a stint in the mountains jersey at the Volta a Catalunya in March, and he's shown ever-improving results since turning pro with Garmin in 2005. We spoke to the underrated American from Boulder a few days after his big win in Greenville.
So you won the National Championship. Were you expecting that?
It鈥檚 been a goal of mine since the first time I did it a few years ago in Greenville. 鈥淲in the National Championship鈥: That鈥檚 been on a notecard on my desk ever since that first race. Goals like this are really important to keep burned into your head. It keeps you motivated when things are hard and you鈥檙e out there killing yourself. It鈥檚 nice to move this card to the pile of the ones I鈥檝e accomplished.
Walk us through how it happened?
With only Ted King and I on our team, our options were limited. So we couldn鈥檛 afford to spend energy on something that didn鈥檛 work out. I made the first split in the field of around 30 riders. Then at the end of the day, over Paris Mountain, there was another split, with a small group of us up the road. There was still a lot of firepower鈥擳eejay Van Garderen, Tom Danielson, Matthew Busche鈥攁nd it turned into a tactical game of cat and mouse as everyone was trying to assess the situation and figure out who might have teammates coming up.
With just Ted and me, I knew that I had to be alone and get a good gap to make it work. I took a technical part of the course really fast. I聽guess I just chose the right moment. When聽I looked back, I had a gap without really trying, and I took the opportunity and ran with it. I certainly didn鈥檛 go into the race hoping to time trial the last 25 kilometers. That鈥檚 hard. But I put my head down and it worked out.
Riding for Liquigas-Cannondale and Garmin before that, you鈥檝e mostly ridden as a domestique. Is it difficult to change your mentality and go for the win?
That鈥檚 the job of like 85 percent of the peloton. You鈥檙e riding for other folks. I鈥檓 lucky because at Liquigas we're riding for amazing guys like Nibali and Sagan and Basso. So there are no complaints about what I do at most races. But I think what I showed this weekend is that when I get a chance to ride for myself I can be really successful. We鈥檝e seen the same thing in the past. In the Volta a Catalunya this spring, I was allowed to get in the breakaway and I was able to earn the mountains jersey for a few days. And last year at the Tour of Utah, when I was riding for myself, I was sixth overall. When I get the chance, I can definitely pull the trigger.
Does the title change your career and where you see yourself going?
The National Championship is a good race to win if you鈥檙e only going to win a few. It鈥檚 hugely satisfying to have that on the resume. But it鈥檚 not like one good day of racing necessarily changes what you can do in the future. I still want to progress in my role as a domestique, and I also hope to develop and take more opportunities for myself when they present themselves. I hope the title will also influence my chances at a spot for the Olympics. It鈥檚 a really small squad, just five guys, so there are some tough decisions for the committee to make. I鈥檓 content that I鈥檝e done my best to show that, if they want me, I can contribute.
There's a changing of the guard in American cycling right now, with the emergence of riders like Tejay Van Garderen, Taylor Phinney, Matt Busche, Brent Bookwalter, Andrew Talanksy. Is this win a kind of vindication for the fact that your name is sometimes overlooked?
Certainly. Everyone you mentioned is very talented. And I think I鈥檓 every bit as talented and work every bit as hard as those guys who get a little more press. I was kind of a late-comer to cycling. I didn鈥檛 start racing my bike until late in high school and college. I wasn鈥檛 a World Tour phenom at age 20, like Sagan. So I鈥檝e had some ground to make up. But cycling is a sport where age and experience go a long way. I came from alpine skiing, where if you鈥檙e not on the radar when you鈥檙e 13 or 14, you鈥檙e washed up and not going to the Olympics. Fortunately, cycling isn鈥檛 like that.
Just like in past years, the UCI World Tour racers dominated in Greenville. Is the disparity in the level of racing between international and domestic that big?
It takes the same thing to be on podium at the World Tour level and the domestic level, especially at races like California. The top end is at the same level. The difference is that in the World Tour, the field is so much deeper. At Greenville, the split was 30 or so guys to begin with and then five after that. In a World Tour race, you鈥檇 still have 60 guys in there. The big difference is the depth.
It was the same in the Tour of Califoria, with seven of the top 10 from World Tour teams and Sagan winning five of seven stages.
First of all, Sagan is just a ridiculous talent. You have to throw some serious stuff at him to make him lose. And when he has a powerful team behind him like Liquigas-Cannondale, it鈥檚 even harder to beat him. But I was surprised that we didn鈥檛 come up against more opposition. I was surprised that more teams weren鈥檛 trying to throw guys up the road and hit us.聽Maybe they couldn鈥檛. I don鈥檛 know. I guess it just means we did our job.
Rumors are that you might be looking for a new team in 2013?
It鈥檚 no secret that my contract is up at the end of the year. No comment other than that. I want to keep going with a World Tour team. I think having the [National Champion] jersey might open some doors, but who knows. I just want to keep progressing.
What鈥檚 next?
I鈥檓 headed for the Tour de Suisse in June. I think we鈥檒l have Sagan there. There are a lot of stages like Cali that are lumpy and hard, but not necessarily mountaintop finishes. Those should be good for Sagan, so we鈥檒l be looking to get him through and set up the win. On a personal level, I鈥檒l be there hoping to follow up on my strong ride in California, just making it hard for the rest of the field.聽After that, I have the Tour of Poland in July.
And the Tour?
Of course the Tour de France has always been a goal of mine, but I haven鈥檛 really had that dialogue with the team yet. It鈥檚 the same with the Olympics. I just do my best to show that I can contribute and then wait and see if I get the nod.
What about the domestic races late season?
Yep, I'll definitely be doing Utah and Colorado. I was already looking forward to the tour of Colorado because it鈥檚 coming through both of my hometowns, Boulder, where I grew up, and Nederland, where I鈥檝e moved. But now to be able to go through wearing the Stars and Stripes, it鈥檚 going to be incredible.
鈥擜aron Gulley