ATLANTA -- The Tour de Georgia may be over, but the pro cycling season is just heating up.
Pro Tour teams shift their focus to the Grand Tour races of Europe: Giro D'Italia in May and Tour de France in July, while domestic teams will take on the next big American races.
Discovery Channel Pro Cycling stars Tom Danielson and Levi Leipheimer will skip the Giro and focus on July's Tour de France, while 2006 Giro winner and teammate Ivan Basso will take on the Italian race.
"All of us aren't doing the Giro, but it's a nice race," Danielson said. "We have quite a strong rider, Ivan Basso. We have a good team and I'd have to put the ball in his court. The problem is that we're in America and we get really excited racing in America, so maybe if they had the Giro in America we'd be racing here."
For the Tour de France, Discovery awaits the invitation of Basso, who was previously banned from the race due to rumors of doping. But Leipheimer has his sights on winning the race previously won by Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis.
"I continue to focus on the race that I do, but Tour de France is definitely one of my goals," Leipheimer said. "I said all along that when I start the race I will be thinking of the classification for myself no matter what the other circumstances are. I have a lot of confidence in Discovery Channel management, they know what they're doing and they've done their homework and this whole situation. I don't know what the headlines are, I just know what the team's been telling us."
going to be possible for even five years. I'm confident I can do a Grand Tour and I'll do 100 percent to achieve that, but it's not that I can say I can win the tour. I would like to win the Tour someday, but there are like 200 other riders that would like to win it. I'm not alone training. It's going to be hard, but with this team, I think I have the best chances to achieve something like that."
Pro Tour teams shift their focus to the Grand Tour races of Europe: Giro D'Italia in May and Tour de France in July, while domestic teams will take on the next big American races.
Discovery Channel Pro Cycling stars Tom Danielson and Levi Leipheimer will skip the Giro and focus on July's Tour de France, while 2006 Giro winner and teammate Ivan Basso will take on the Italian race.
"All of us aren't doing the Giro, but it's a nice race," Danielson said. "We have quite a strong rider, Ivan Basso. We have a good team and I'd have to put the ball in his court. The problem is that we're in America and we get really excited racing in America, so maybe if they had the Giro in America we'd be racing here."
For the Tour de France, Discovery awaits the invitation of Basso, who was previously banned from the race due to rumors of doping. But Leipheimer has his sights on winning the race previously won by Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis.
"I continue to focus on the race that I do, but Tour de France is definitely one of my goals," Leipheimer said. "I said all along that when I start the race I will be thinking of the classification for myself no matter what the other circumstances are. I have a lot of confidence in Discovery Channel management, they know what they're doing and they've done their homework and this whole situation. I don't know what the headlines are, I just know what the team's been telling us."
going to be possible for even five years. I'm confident I can do a Grand Tour and I'll do 100 percent to achieve that, but it's not that I can say I can win the tour. I would like to win the Tour someday, but there are like 200 other riders that would like to win it. I'm not alone training. It's going to be hard, but with this team, I think I have the best chances to achieve something like that."
