Roger That Sports

A few days ago Paolo Salvadelli was the only rider able to follow an incredible heart pumping, gear turning charge up the Dolomites by last years Tour de France podium finisher Ivan Basso, another incredible and well liked Italian cyclist.

This stage of the Giro d'Italia was won by Salvadelli, but the overall was taken by Basso. But that wasn't the only capper on the day for this pro team. This same day, on the only other Pro-Tour event on the calendar, Popo, Yaroslav Popovych, almost won the stage at the Volta a Catalonia, and ended up wearing the leaders jersey! Two huge wins in one day for a cycling team that has been tagged as one dimensional and critisized for years for being solely focused on the Tour de France.

What a day for this team that 7 years ago was a "B" contender. Now they have several riders capable of big tour ambitions. And what about Armstrong? He has one tour left in him and you can't argue with 7! Wow, it is hard for me to even imagine a single rider with 7 tour victories.

But looking forward, Johan Bruynell and the team at Discovery have made some awesome acquisitions in order to remain a hot contender for the years ahead. Popo, Salvadelli, Jose Azevedo, Rider Hesjedal and even Mike Creed. You are going to hear these guys' names in the years to come. And it looks like with Pop and Salvadelli, you are going to hear professional cycling and Team Discovery Channel quite a bit right away.

Watch out for Mike Creed. I've been following him for a while and he has talent. I remember saying the same thing when I saw Lance Armstrong's picture in Velonews the year before he won the World's title. He was sitting in his Texas home in front of a steer skull painted like the Texas flag. Creed is for real and will become a factor in the European peloton in the future. Remember his name. I'm not sure if he is a tour winner, but he will be heard. He has a similar cockiness like Armstrong.

One thing I would like to see is some solid support of George Hincapie. He is an amazing rider and surprising in the tour year after year. His concentration are the spring classics, but it never seems like the team gives him a strong enough roster to win the real big ones. What is amazing about him is he gives it all during the spring, and is able to deliver for Armstrong in July. He is just a machine.

Overall I am real happy with the moves Team Discovery Channel has made. Lance Armstrong has done a lot for the sport in America, just like his predecessor Greg Lemond, and it would be a shame for us not to have a competitive team to ride the tail of his success. But that doesn’t look like it will be a problem in the near term. Now all we need are more American riders, more clubs, more velodromes and more people paying attention to they guys in spandex on the side of the road!