The Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team will throw its best bicycle racers at the peloton in the first half of the Tour de France, then support whoever is in the top position.
Unlike past years when the team rode in support of Lance Armstrong from Day One, Johan Bruyneel said, this year the team will remain flexible.
Bruyneel talked to VeloNews about his team's Tour de France strategy this week while many members competed at the week-long Dauphiné Libéré bike race.
American George Hincapie (above), and teammates Yaroslav Popovych, Jose Azevedo and Paolo Savoldelli will start the 2006 Tour on July 1 with equal chances of winning; the others team will eventually support the cyclist riding the best. Said Bruyneel:
“It's how I would like to go into the race. Not with the obsession like the past years, but with the knowledge we have a deep team. We have to get those guys in the best position in the first mountain stages and then we'll see what we can do.”
VeloNews asked Bruyneel about Hincapie's chances at the Tour.
“From what I know from him and how I can calculate the difference between working for a leader and riding for himself, a realistic prognostic he can be the top 10. Going from there, it can be up to him to see how high he can get.”
At the current Dauphine bike race, Hincapie sits in 7th, 3 minutes and 2 seconds behind another American, Levi Leipheimer, after the 5th stage.
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