Jonathan Vaughters (Garmin-Sharp) (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Garmin-Sharp team boss Jonathan Vaughters speaks to the press prior to the start of Tour de France stage 5.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
David Millar (Garmin-Sharp) celebrates his victory in stage 12 of the Tour de France.(Image credit: AFP)
Stage 12 winner David Millar (Garmin-Sharp) on the podium.(Image credit: Sirotti)
The leading men (L to R): France's Samuel Dumoulin, Belgium's Dries Devenyns, Belgium's Christian Vande Velde and France's Pierrick Fedrigo ride in a breakaway past fields of sunflowers (Image credit: AFP)
After their Giro success it would have perhaps been easy for Garmin to sit up and tap gently into Paris due to the bad luck that befell them in this year's opening week of the Tour de France.
Both Ryder Hesjedal and Tom Danielson crashed out leaving the team with no GC prospect for the first time since their Tour debut in 2008, while Tyler Farrar also crashed and sustained injures to rule him out of the sprints.
It forced the team to change strategy and on the stage to Bellegarde-sur-Valserine both David Millar and David Zabriskie escaped in the main break of the day. The team missed out on the stage win but repeated attacks on consecutive days finally paid off when Millar won in Annonay Davézieux.
Before the start of stage 15 in Samatan team boss Jonathan Vaughters praised his riders' spirits and hinted that there was more to come from his team. And sure enough Christian Vande Velde joined the stage break, taking second behind Pierrick Fédrigo.
Away from racing, Garmin have also had to deal with questions relating to USADA's investigation into Lance Armstrong and several other members of the US Postal team. Unfounded allegations were printed in the opening week stating that members of the team had testified in order to secure immunity but had received sanctions.
Vaughters, himself named as one of those who had testified, said that the team had held to their anti-doping philosophy throughout the experience, and that while his riders would cooperate with any investigation, they would also uphold their public stance on anti-doping.
"We put ourselves out on a limb and we have to live and die by that. We set a higher standard," Vaughters said.
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In this exclusive video interview Vaughters talks to Cyclingnews, first about his team's performance in this year's Tour and then how he and his team has upheld an anti-doping stance within the parameters of the current sport.
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Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
