Last week Johan Bruyneel announced the this years Tour de France line-up for the Discovery Channel team, the selected riders included George Hincapie (of course) who was the only American rider selected for the squad. The full Tour de France team includes:
- George Hincapie
- Yaroslav Popovych
- Paolo Savoldelli
- Jose Azevedo
- Egoi Martinez
- Pavel Padrnos
- Viatcheslav Ekimov
- Benjamin Noval
- Jose Luis Rubiera
- Vladimir Gusev – Reserve
- Michael Barry – Reserve
Bruyneel told to press last week that this will mark his first year entering the Tour de France as director of the Discovery Channel without Lance and that he is “extremely motivated” lead the team to a dominating performance. Bruyneel went on to say he is confident the strong team line up can bring one of their riders to a top placing in Paris adding that the team is ready.
It is great to see Ekimov on this years roster again, he is closing in on a tour record, most Tour’s ridden (Joop Zoetemelk – 16) with 14 to date. This year Eki will ride his 15th, thus next year if he rode the Tour again he would tie the record.
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