In the world of professional cycling the transition from domestique to team leader is difficult and rare. For every rider that makes the jump, there are dozens who try and fail - or simply never try at all. Garmin-Slipstream's Christian Vande Velde emerged as a leader after years of service to others. Procycling's Jason Sumner caught up with Vande Velde at his Chicago home to find out what made the difference.
All that changed a year ago when Vande Velde left the comforts of CSC and signed on with the then-fledgling Slipstream team. At the time the Boulder, Colorado-based squad had no title sponsor and no guarantee that it would be invited to the sport's biggest races. But everything fell into place in 2008. GPS-maker Garmin stepped into the title sponsor role, and the newly named Garmin-Chipotle team earned a coveted invite to the Tour de France.
Vande Velde took over from there, announcing himself as a rider to be reckoned with. The Chicago native finished fifth overall - or fourth if you remove the subsequently suspended Bernhard Kohl. And he was tops among GC contenders in the Tour's final time trial, finishing fourth - or third if you remove Stefan Schumacher, who also tested positive for CERA.
Those results, plus a win at the season-ending Tour of Missouri, gave Vande Velde a huge boost of confidence, and earned him top honours in the Cyclingnews most improved rider reader poll.
Read the entire interview.