Discovery Channel Racing to step back into the spotlight
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Nickoz12 |
Posted on 15-08-2010 13:46
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Discovery Channel Racing had been a very prominent team during 2004-2007
they were a follow up team form the team US Postal.
Lance Armstong seven time winner of the tour de france was to become the leader of Discovery Channel Racing.
On June 25th, 2004 discovery channel signed the deal that was supposed to last from 2004 to 2008 and could be extended if the team were to go above and beyond its contract. And with riders such as Lance, Ivan Basso and George Hincapie This should have been no problem.
In The Teams first season of 2005 they managed a few notable wins such as:
George Hincapie winning the Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne.
Popovych winning the GC of the Volta a Catalunya.
and of course Lance Armstrong winning the GC of the biggest race in cycling... Le Tour De France.
other big victories were noticed these being some oif the biggest.
The team got of to a good start doing even better in the Following 2006 campaign sadly losing there leader and 7 time winner of Le Tour Lance ARmstrong who only served 1 year and that being his supposed final cycling career.
The team continued its success in 2007 with the signings of Levi Leipheimer and Alberto Contador.
The results continued to get better this time with young boy alberto contador coming out on top winning the gloryfied Tour De France
which later would prove to be the first of many.
On August 10, 2007, Tailwind Sports announced the end of the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team. Tailwind officials stopped their search for a new title sponsor for the Discovery team, citing the current conditions within the sport of cycling.
This gave way to what could of been the greatest team in cycling.
Many riders were devastated to the fact that they were out of a job with a team they loved but they had no trouble finding teams infact many were sent over to Astana.
Many rumours had become apparant in early 2009 that Discovery wished to continue there cycling story. And this brought the interest to many riders even the great Lance Armstrong wanted to know more.
in August 2009 after long negotiations Discovery would infact play apart in the 2010 season as a pro tour team. Discovery teamed up with the old sponsors and would sign a 4 year contract.
The team would even be seen in one of there original kits but would not be shown until the first race in january.
obviously some riders were wanting very much to sign and others not. The biggest shock came from Lance who said he would love to take part with this once great team who took him to winning his seventh tour de france title. Lance already had big plans to start a team of his own 'RadiShack'
which would sell his livestrong brand to the world. And if lance didnt race it would look bad on him. Strong negotiations came from bothe sides and eventually lance cracked. He came to the agreement that he would only race for Discovery on two conditions one being his livestrong brand would be shown on the team and two being the riders Popovych and Leipheimer would join him.
Obviously this would be tough. getting the livestrong brand oin the kit would be easy but buying riders out of contract from a team that needed those riders proved to be very dificult. it came to november during the off season and the discovery team were struggling to find big name riders and frsh new talent to ride but great news came across... Lance Levi and Yaroslov Would be racing for discovery next seaon. This made a turn for the better as more riders became interested in the team. Even alberto contador showed interest but the signing of him is unknown because saxo bank were ready to buy him in the 2011 season
but only time will tell.
December 11th and amazingly a squad of 24 had been named:
Rider: Nationality Age:
Lance Armstrong* USA 38
Ivan Basso ITA 33
Fumiyuki Beppu JPN 27
Volodymyr Bileka UKR 31
Janez Brajkovic SLO 36
Antonio Cruz USA 38
Tom Danielson USA 32
Allan Davis AUS 30
John Devine USA 24
Stijn Devolder BEL 30
Vladimir Gusev RUS 28
George Hincapie USA 37
Levi Leipheimer* USA 36
Fuyu Li CHN 32
Trent Lowe AUS 25
Egoi MartÃnez ESP 32
Jason McCartney USA 36
Gianni Meersman BEL 24
Yaroslav Popovych* UKR 30
^ABOVE PAST RIDERS
Jonathon Bellis GBR 22
Eric Bennet USA 23
Alex Howes USA 22
Valentin Iglinskiy KAZ 26
Christophe Kern FRA 29
Edward King USA 27
^ NEW TEAM RIDERS
This team Was set too be a future great but a few other riders under negotiation had yet to be decided:
Tom Boonen BEL 30
Alberto Contador ESP 27
Steve Cummings GBR 29
Kirk O'Bee USA 33 < Doesnt Ride For A Team
David Zabriskie USA 31
Christian Vandevelde USA 34
Many of these Riders were the heart and sole of the teams they already rode for to buying these out of contract ( other than O'Bee) would be very difficult.
It came to December 27th Before a final List of riders was Published and Discovery only managed to get two more riders on the team these being
Kirk O'Bee USA 33
&
Christian Vandevelde USA 34
The other riders showed interest but there teams wouldnt allow them too move on. Although they will be watched in future years.
The Team was set and ready to go January the 1st is here marking the start of the 2010 season how will the team do well.... you'll have to wait and see.
Other Facts:
Team Manager: Jonathon Bruyneel
Game Difficulty: HARD
Attributes+:1.0
DB: PCM DAILY 2010 Champs
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Mresuperstar |
Posted on 15-08-2010 13:55
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Great Start! Since I'm From the USA, I'm Going to Follow this Story. Good Luck.
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Nickoz12 |
Posted on 15-08-2010 13:57
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Thanks very much
all i need is an american national ahamps jersey so im going to find someone to help me make one
Edited by Nickoz12 on 15-08-2010 13:58
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Nickoz12 |
Posted on 15-08-2010 14:01
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DISCOVERY CHANNEL - PRO CYCLING TEAM HAS GONE FOR THERE 2006 JERSEY only changes being the livestrong brand on the left sleve and left leg
Edited by Nickoz12 on 15-08-2010 21:53
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Nickoz12 |
Posted on 15-08-2010 15:04
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DISCOVERY TEAM STATS
the team was ready to tackle pre season and Lance Armstrong despite his age has the ability to do very well this year
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Nickoz12 |
Posted on 15-08-2010 16:53
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first results of the season came in from the Australian National Championships Discovery didnt have the men needed to win eith the RR or the ITT but here are the top five for both races
ROADRACE:
Cadel EVANS BMC Racing Team 4h 10'55''
Mark RENSHAW HTC Columbia +20''
Stuart O'GRADY Saxo Bank +24''
Robbie MCEWEN Team Katusha +45''
Matthew WILSON Garmin-Transitions +45''
ITT
ROGERS HTC Columbia 58'39''
EVANS BMC Racing Team +15''
MEYER Garmin Transitions +33''
GOSS HTC Columbia +1'12''
PORTE Saxo Bank +1'41''
Tour Down under is the next big race and a huge oppurtunity for Discovery to get noticed and to score some points.
Armstrong will start in this race mainly because he is the captain and he will be there to talk for the team during interviews but Davis is the key man too look out for can he make it victory number 3 in the GC of the Tour Down Under
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Nickoz12 |
Posted on 15-08-2010 17:19
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Discovery Channel Tckled preseason training very well
The Team headed over the Santa Barbara in the USA.
in an Interview the rider vandevelde said that he gave full marks to his manager and fitness coaches for making the camp as effective as possible.
Armstrong took 3 days of from regular training to go to America's best psychiatric institiute to get him mentally back into the sport.
Armstrong has given many press confrences regarding the team and how he thinks they'll do and he has put his team up there with the best of them.
Jonathan Bruyneel was questioned to whether this would be Armstrongs FINAL season and jonathan replyed ''its 100% down to the rider he's signed his contract and if he wishes to stay there will always be a place on the team for him''
Armstrongs contract length has alwas been looked at since he started with Astana in 2009 but if he has the correct mind set then he will continue way into his 40's
more news has popped up regarding alberto Contador and Discovery. In a short interview with Alberto he stated he would rather race for Discovery but only if he was guaranteed starting spots on the Grand Tours of his choice.
A steep compromise but i think Discovery would be more than willing to put Contador on the starters list and they wouldnt think twice
More rumours have become aparant as to the signing of rabobank star Nick Nuyens but Jonathan denied any accusations of speaking with the rider on the subject Head Fitness Coach Roy Heaton said ''obviously having riders such as Nick Nuyens on the Team would be great but why would we want him due to the fact we have similar riders who are as good if not better''
so thats the week update on Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team But theres plenty more action to be recognised as The tour down under starts tommorow and we look forward to seeing how well Lance and his team can do
so enjoy and keep with The Discovery Cycling Team Story
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Nickoz12 |
Posted on 15-08-2010 17:28
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FORD
GOOGLE
AMD
these will be discoverys secondary sponsors for the new season
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Nickoz12 |
Posted on 15-08-2010 21:22
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The Tour Down under is finally underway And Discovery look stronger than ever. The squad has been named and a surprise in the equipment is made apparent..
The squad for the race is as follows:
Lance ARMSTRONG* Leader
Allan DAVIS* Favourite
Stijn DEVOLDER
Yaroslov POPOVYCH
John DEVINE
Vladimir GUSEV
Christophe KERN
Stage One is classed as a flat stage although has some hilly aspects noticeably at 114km which is also the first mountain checkpoint. Sprints are situated at 44km and 74km which if there is no breakaway will be highly contested for.
The favourites for the race are Davis, Cavendish and Devolder two riders of which belong to The Discovery Team ( Davis & Devolder) this puts the newly formed ‘’old’’ team at a good advantage during todays race
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Nickoz12 |
Posted on 15-08-2010 21:29
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The Captain Lance Armstrong has said he's feeling really good for the new season and hopes in the later stages he can show that he's got better if anything.
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Nickoz12 |
Posted on 15-08-2010 21:32
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Discovery have the riders to win anything and everything there a team of great diversity ranging from world class sprinters to elite mountain climber
Jonathan Bruyneel
Edited by Nickoz12 on 15-08-2010 21:33
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Nickoz12 |
Posted on 15-08-2010 21:46
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Race Report Stage one
The stage has a mix bag and a part of it will suit every rider classed as a flat stage it has its fair share of hills.
The race started fairly steady and riders got into a smooth rythm but thats not satisfying for every rider and Omega Pharma – Lotto decided to send a rider on an early attack which was followed up by at least a dozen others.The break didn’t last long , only about 30km and soon the peleton could get back into its rythm.
Discovery took its place at the front with riders Popovych Devolder and Davis creating a small lead out train. At the 50km mark another attack was set out with seven riders including Liquigas’ Willems and Astana’s Selvaggi. The Break seemed to be doing very well and at one point of the race gaining a 9’’min lead over the peleton.
40 km from the finnish it became apparent that one team had to start realing back in the brteak and they still had a decent lead. It came down to Discovery to do that job with the same 3 riders as before hauling the pack towards the line. If the Break hadn’t been what it was ( around 7 min) then they would have been caught but 10km from the line a 2 min lead was still in place and they were never going to be caught. The 7 breakaway riders had done well and the cervello test team rider: Rasch took the stage victory via a sprint finnish. The pack also came to a sprint finnish contesting over the remaining 3 top 10 spots. No discovery rider finished in the top 10 but Develdor managed a decent 12th which was good considering he was upo against farrar and Cavendish and davis who reacted to late finished a few places behind.
Lance Armstrong Finneshed in 96th but he had no intention to do better and the whole pack came in 1’ 49 behind .
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Nickoz12 |
Posted on 15-08-2010 22:12
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Stage 2
Stage 2 is relativley more flat and has plenty of chances for breakaways and a big possibility of a massed sprint finnish
Favourites for the race are allan davis mark cavendish and Robbie Mcewen
The Stage got of to a great start and within 4 km a huge surprise came.... that being lance armstrong decided to attack he left many riders in his wake and got a 8 min lead. Lance took points in both mountain and sprint and slowed down his pace to be rejoined by the peleton at around the 92 km mark. the next attack came at 108 km directly before the sprint another attack was set of with the Frainces Des Juex rider chavanel he was caught 15 km out but seemed good for the sprint!
Devolder of Discovery worked very hard to get allan davis to the front for the inevitable sprint finnish 2km from the line the sprint started and devolder was way ahead with davis on his wheel 1km to go and davis moved out and really but the gas on and zoomed away to win his first stage victory in the tour down under. More amazingly was that devolder had the legs to carry on and Discovery achieved a spectacular 1 , 2 finnish which was more than they expected.
this made little difrence the the gc standings but allan davis was moving up on the sprinters points.
the top 14 is as follows:
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Nickoz12 |
Posted on 15-08-2010 22:13
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ARmstrong leaving riders behind but is he working hard? or hardly working?
Edited by Nickoz12 on 15-08-2010 22:16
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Nickoz12 |
Posted on 15-08-2010 22:17
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Devolder lead out man for davis 1.1 km from the line
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Nickoz12 |
Posted on 15-08-2010 22:20
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Davis Pulls away after great effort from Stijn Devolder
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Nickoz12 |
Posted on 15-08-2010 22:23
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A GREAT WIN FOR DAVIS AND TO TOP IT OFF DEVOLDER TAKES SECOND
Edited by Nickoz12 on 15-08-2010 22:24
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Nickoz12 |
Posted on 15-08-2010 22:29
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Tommorows stage changes with noticeably more hills
lets hope for another exciting day of cycling
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miggi133 |
Posted on 15-08-2010 22:44
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Try using imageshack to upload more pictures... Than you can get one racereport with a few pics in one Post
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Nickoz12 |
Posted on 15-08-2010 22:47
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thanks man
although i have no idea how to use it :L
Edited by Nickoz12 on 15-08-2010 22:50
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