Discovery presents life after Lance

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The 2006 Disovery Channel team.(Image credit: Mark Zalewski)

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Right away, the questions came flying - who is taking over for Lance? "There is never a competition on the team who is going to be the leader. Everybody has his objectives. We have a strong leader for the Giro, he won the race two times. And a few strong riders who are going to support them there. There are three or four other riders who will have an opportunity to be a leader in the Tour de France. But there is never a competition within the team to decide who is the leader. I think everybody knows we have three or for guys who can be in the top ten. We will start with that goal. Then deciding on how the race goes - who is stronger than the other, what the race situation decides. In general, the problem is solved by the race."

Those four riders tapped by Bruyneel consist of George Hincapie, José Azevedo, Jose Luis Rubiera and Yaroslav Popovych. "George is definitely going to be one of our strong guys," Bruyneel said. "He showed last year that he was able to be on the front working for the team. He has improved his climbing, and his time trialing is going well. And with his experience and knowing he can do it, he will go a long way. We have Azevedo who was fifth or sixth in the Tour de France. We have a young rider who finished 12th in his first Tour de France, Popovych. I think he can be very good. And maybe even Chechu Rubiera. In general those four guys will be our top guys, and then the race will decide who is our top guy."

Many analysts and experts have been touting Tom Danielson as the next Lance, but those people will have to wait another year to see the up-and-coming American ride in The Tour. "Tom will not ride The Tour... [he] will ride the Giro. We have Paolo showing he can do it, so we bring a team to the Giro in support of him. But Tom has shown he can finish high and he looks stronger than last year. We shouldn't rule him out for him overall."

While many other races might suit Discovery Channel better now with this slate of riders, the Tour is still THE Tour for Bruyneel. "It's still a focus. We've won that race seven times in a row and the situation has changed, but I'm still not prepared to not win it. The chances are less, sure, but as long as there is a chance, we will try it. There are definitely other races - the Giro, the spring classics - we came pretty close to Paris-Roubaix, and if we keep trying, one year it has to be possible to win it. There is a new race this year, the Tour of California, which is a goal for us. But the Tour is the Tour, and I think we will have a team that can do really well there."

The burning question for Lance, from the assembled press (and probably from the Las Vegas oddsmakers) is who he is picking to win in 2006. And after acknowledging his team was sitting in the room, Lance gave his early nod to Ullrich. "On paper, it's between Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso - between T-Mobile and CSC. It's going to be incredibly interesting. What I found really interesting is Jan looking completely different than what he has looked like in past Januarys for the last seven, eight or nine years. This is the guy who has clearly got a new motivation and new perspective on his sport. The course suits him - a lot of time trials and not particularly hard in the mountains. I think he wins.

While Lance will certainly be busy fulfilling his contractual obligations to the Discovery networks, he says he still will stay closely involved with the inter-workings of the team he helped build from the ground up. "I am still a fan, still an addict when it comes to following cycling and following the progress of the boys. That hasn't changed. This partnership and relationship hasn't changed either. It's an interaction constantly, on a daily basis. [Johan and I] are still speaking together about the riders, the plans, the training - how they are looking, how they are not looking. I think it's important to maintain some consistency there. We can pull me out of the equation and put somebody else in and it could still almost work. I'm always there. We are both type A and are both asking questions and comments."

As for his relationship with the race itself, Lance replied, "My relationship with Jean Marie, that's all really irrelevant because when it comes to the event in July, I still really love the race. And I still think it stands for everything great in world cycling. I'm still a fan of that regardless of what's gone on. I plan on being there to support the team - keep in mind this is like a family for me. I am still thrilled to see the guys and go on a ride with them on Saturday. You can't do something for fifteen years and then just leave."

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