A Fresh Start
Date: January 24, 2005

Cycling is a team sport, where individuals shine due to the team’s efforts. For a cycling team to be successful, each member has to sacrifice for the leader. Discovery Channel Pro Cycling began building the foundations of a strong team in Solvang, California in the middle of January.

This group was officially launched in Silver Spring, Maryland at the Discovery Channel headquarters. To build a solid unit you not only need physically gifted athletes, but also sponsors that are committed to strengthening and nurturing the team. With Discovery Channel, AMD, Trek, Nike and our other supporting sponsors we have the structure to dominate the world of cycling.

The 28-rider Discovery Channel lineup is the most diverse and multicultural cycling team on the international circuit, with 15 nations represented and dozens of languages spoken. For us, this provides an interesting working environment where we are constantly learning about different cultures, and hearing different accents and languages.

During 2004 Johan Bruyneel, our director, carefully selected riders for 2005. He looked for riders who are not only talented cyclists but also selfless, calm and collected, thoughtful and hard working. For the team to win races during the season, everybody needs to be focused on the common goal.

The Santa Ynez valley in California provided the perfect terrain for us to lay the foundations for the 2005 season. We missed the storms that had eroded the southern Californian landscape in early January and we were able to take full advantage of the mountains that cast a shadow over the Pacific. The roads around Santa Barbara are some of the best in the country for cycling as there are small climbs, flat roads, and long mountains, and the traffic is limited to the occasional agricultural vehicle driving between vineyards.

Each day we would wake up, eat a large breakfast, throw on our gear and climb on our bikes for the training session. The team split into two groups, a fast and a slow group. The faster group is conditioning for the early-season Classics races in Northern Europe that begin in March. The slower group rides at lower heart rates because they have time to find their fitness, as they do not have to be in top condition until the latter part of the season. This group is made of the Tour de France climbing aces such as Jose Azevedo, Manuel "Triki" Beltran, Jose Luis "Chechu" Rubiera and Lance.

AMD has worked with Nike, Trek and other members of the "F-1" group of sponsors to develop the most technically sound and fast equipment for the team. The bicycles and clothing are tested in a wind tunnel so that we have the most aerodynamic equipment in the cycling peloton. In the last couple of years, Nike has designed a time trial suit that can save a rider a minute in a long time trial and Trek has developed the fastest and most reliable bicycles possible. AMD technology has been influential in working to build the best team, riding on the best equipment in the world.

During the season, each rider on the team will race about 80-100 days, which means we are on the road traveling and racing about 150 days in the year. To keep in touch with our families and friends the team has been provided by AMD with notebook computers. We also use the computers to track our training during the season as we can download our training data (heart rate, power output, distance and time) and analyze our efforts on the bike.

For me, and seven other riders on the team, the season begins next week in Malaysia at the Tour of Langkawi. Another roster of riders will be on the start line in Qatar for a five-day race through the desert. Given the workload and quality of training we did in California over the last couple of weeks, it would not be a surprise to see the team performing well in the first races of the year.

For 2005, the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team has assembled a group that can deliver a Tour de France victory, that can win the Tours of Italy and Spain, and can also dominate in the historic one-day races that pepper the racing calendar.