Bruyneel maintains focus

In the sad pre-Tour de France confusion that has reigned at the start of the race in Strasbourg for the last couple of days, with several of the race favourites finally being denied to start because of implications in the Spanish doping scandal, Discovery Channel directeur sportif remained confident that his riders were going to achieve great things in the upcoming event.

"On the eve of the 2006 Tour de France, all of the Team Director’s meet to decide on the current situation regarding the riders named in the Spanish doping scandal," related Bruyneel in a statement. "The directors unanimously decided to uphold the code of ethics that was signed by all teams on January 1, 2005 which stated that no team would allow a rider to compete while under investigation in any doping affair.

"This is certainly an unfortunate situation for all of professional cycling, not just those teams and riders involved. And even though the top pre-Tour favourites have been suspended from competition, all of our Discovery Channel riders continue to maintain their focus on tomorrow’s prologue time trial. The entire team has prepared meticulously for this race as they have over the past seven years and we continue to have high expectations about our chances in this year's Tour de France."