It looked like Discovery was bringing a powerful team to the Tour de France this year. After watching Lance Armstrong get isolated on several climbs for the first time in years, I have a theory for why: their roster looks skewed towards climbing this year. Yes, there are lots of mountain days lined up right in a row, but two major factors contribute to my idea: George Hincapie is claimed as being several KG lighter than past year, so in a way he’s transformed from a flat terrain and rolling hill powerhouse to a power climber, and Ekimov is missing with no one to replace him. Watching the coverage the last few years, I remember seeing Eki on the front for miles and miles.
Those two changes have put more burden on Discovery’s pure climbers during the flatter parts of the stages, leaving them unable to stick with Lance in the big mountains.