Waiting for Garmin

Garmin manager Jonathan Vaughters

What happened to Garmin-Cervelo? At Stage 4 of the Dauphine, the team was driving at the front to bring back two riders from an early breakaway. The squad of black and blue led the peloton to give American sprinter Tyler Farrar the final opportunity for a stage win at this race. Yet in the last 7 kilometers, Garmin all but disappeared. In the final kilometer, Garmin had a few riders out front, but they were quickly surrounded by a number of other teams including Team Sky. In the end, phenom John Degenkolb was on his own to edge out Sky’s Edvald Boassen Hagen for the win. “I had the punch today,” said HTC’s Degenkolb, landing his sixth win of the year. Farrar finished sixth.

We are depending on Farrar and his team to play the foil to Mark Cavendish and HTC in the sprint finishes at the Tour de France. Yet so far this season, Farrar has not proven he can fill the role. Sadly, his opportunities at the Giro d’Italia last month were cut short, when his friend Wouter Weylandt died and Farrar pulled out of the race. Hopefully the two missed sprint stages at the Criterium du Dauphine have served as a solid training ground for him and his lead-out train.