Jonathan Vaughters is confident that the merge with Cervélo increases the horsepower of his team and can move them up to the top spot in the UCI teams classification. In 2010, Garmin was ranked number seven, but would be number three using the new ranking system.
Vaughters is not shy about his ambitions. "By the end of the year [2011], we want to be the number one team in the world," Vaughters said to the Denver Post. "That's the singular performance goal of our team. I'm being pretty loud about that sort of thing." The team reinforced its sprinting power of Tyler Farrar by adding World Champion Thor Hushovd.
The team rankings are often overlooked in stage races and the UCI ranking adds to the confusion, with Garmin ranked number three under the new system, but number seven in the old system. The new system look at the top 15 riders of each team in the previous two-year period.
"Cycling needs to start looking at the global picture," Vaughters said. "Who's the best in the world? Who's the best team in the world? We want to be the best team in the world, and we need to make a point of that's going to be our goal this year."
In order to get there, Garmin-Cervélo has to step it up a bit. Farrar's Giro stage win, Ryder Hesjedal's seventh in the Tour de France and Tom Danielson's ninth in the Vuelta are decent results, but they won't be enough to get past the Saxo Bank remnants.
Saxo Bank took the UCI ranking this year, but with the new ranking system, it is the new Luxembourg team from the Schleck brothers that sits on the top. With the potential Tour winner (Andy Schleck) in its line-up, it will certainly be hard to beat them.
"It sounds like a long and challenging path," Vaughters said. "I'm in the thick of us trying to get us all the way to the top."