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After years of working for others, will Duggan, 29, one day have his chance to be the star rider?
"Maybe someday. You take it step by step: right now I'm focusing on being the best domestique I can be. I don't have the best sprint and I'm not the best climber, but I'm pretty good all around otherwise. I can be on the front all day and get through a lot of stuff. I just don't have that kick at the end.
"I'm still young, and I think that's something that can come later in my career. Right now I'm just focusing on delivering my teammates who are the race winners to the line on a silver platter, and that's the best I can do for the moment. We'll take it race by race, year by year and see what happens.
"There were other riders in the past, someone like Tyler Hamilton for example, I see myself as a similar type of rider as him. He really focused on his domestique duties and later in his career he was able to have an opportunity to train to be a race winner. That came later on. Hopefully there is a similar path for me."
"Maybe someday. You take it step by step: right now I'm focusing on being the best domestique I can be. I don't have the best sprint and I'm not the best climber, but I'm pretty good all around otherwise. I can be on the front all day and get through a lot of stuff. I just don't have that kick at the end.
"I'm still young, and I think that's something that can come later in my career. Right now I'm just focusing on delivering my teammates who are the race winners to the line on a silver platter, and that's the best I can do for the moment. We'll take it race by race, year by year and see what happens.
"There were other riders in the past, someone like Tyler Hamilton for example, I see myself as a similar type of rider as him. He really focused on his domestique duties and later in his career he was able to have an opportunity to train to be a race winner. That came later on. Hopefully there is a similar path for me."
I was okay until that last paragraph and then I almost fell out of my chair. Is he serious? Tyler suddenly became a world beater by "training to be a race winner"? If Duggan is looking for a "similar path" Hamilton can certainly tell him all about it ... and already has. How can he say this with a straight face?
