Mood good in Discovery camp

Another rider talking about a positive mood this morning was Discovery Channel's Michael Barry. The squad currently have Janez Brajkovic, Manuel Beltran, Tom Danielson and Stijn Devolder in sixth, seventh, 16th and 17th place overall and are, unsurprisingly, leading the team classification. Discovery also took a stage win on Wednesday, courtesy of Egoi Martinez.

Barry said that they are looking forward to a good showing in the second half of the race. "The mood on the team is good," he stated. "The plan for now is to have guys in the breakaways and keep the guys who are up there in the general classification protected, in a good position and out of the wind. The idea is that they will get to the time trial and climbs as fresh as is possible.

"Tom, Stijn, Triki [Manuel Beltran] and Janez are all up there in the overall. We have three really hard days of climbing plus the time trial. Things will sort themselves out on those stages but they are all climbing extremely well and obviously they can help each other out in the mountains."

Twenty-two-year-old Brajkovic has been the revelation of this year's race, although having the hunger knock on stage nine to Alto de la Cobertoria meant that he slipped out of the race lead. Barry said it is an easy thing to happen.

"He actually felt really good that day but ended up losing time because he didn't eat enough. That happens sometimes when you are feeling fantastic - you forget to eat! But he will be fine, I think all of those guys will have really good time trials and are all looking forward to that test."