Daniel surprises himself with road title

As 21-year-old Greg Daniel of Axeon Hagens Berman approached the finish line of the Volkswagen USA Cycling Pro Road Nationals in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, he faced a dilemma: should he post up to celebrate his win? At issue wasn’t so much the style of his celebration, but whether one was even warranted. For Daniel, the idea of having won the national road race championship seemed just too good to be true.

“On the last climb I decided to test my legs and see what I could do,” the Coloradan said.

“I looked back and there was no one there, so I thought, ‘Okay, I just have to go.’ But then I began second guessing myself. As I approached the line I was like, ‘This is the last lap, right? And there isn’t a group up the road, is there?’ I didn’t want to make a fool of myself by posting up [if I wasn’t actually the winner.] But then I looked up at the time and the lap counter, and I just saw zero, zero. And I was like, ‘I really won this?’ It was just a total shock. But then I saw my friends celebrating. It was just surreal.”

For Daniel, who will be aging out of Axel Merckx’s U23 development team at the end of the season, the result may prove to be just he’s looking for: a ticket to the World Tour ranks.

“There was definitely a lot of stress for me today. I wanted to get a good result. This is my last year as a U23 on this team and so I can’t be on Axel’s [Axeon Hagens Berman] team anymore. I was really hoping for a result here today, so I can hopefully go on to the WorldTour – or really any …

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