Danielson to lead Discovery Channel in Vuelta

Tom Danielson will be at the head of affairs in the Discovery Channel Vuelta a España team, after the nine man roster was named today. Along with Danielson will be Michael Barry, Manuel Beltrán, Janez Brajkovic, Stijn Devolder, Vladimir Gusev, Benoît Joachim, Egoi Martinez and Jurgen Van Goolen, with Volodymyr Bileka and Gennady Mikhaylov as reserves.

Team manager Johan Bruyneel described the team balance, saying, "Selecting this team was not easy for me as we have a lot of guys that are riding very strong at the moment, but I feel that we have a very solid team in place that will work well together. Tom Danielson is set to be our leader for this race and I believe he has prepared very well. With the team that we have to support him I am confident that he will be able to finish very high up in the overall classification."

The team is looking at improving their two previous grand tours in 2006, where they wore the leader’s jersey and won stages in both races. The Vuelta squad has a number of riders that have had individual success throughout the season.

Manuel Beltrán: 2nd place stage and King of the Mountains at Castilla y Leon & 4th place overall at Tour de l'Ain.

Benoît Joachim: 2nd place overall at Eindhoven Team Time Trial & 1st place at Luxembourg National Time Trial Championships.

Egoi Martinez: 3rd place in a stage at Castilla y Leon, 2nd place overall at Eindhoven Team Trial, 3rd place on stage at Dauphine Libéré & Most Aggressive rider on stage 4 at Tour de France.