Team Discovery Channel announced its roster of riders that will compete in the 2006 Vuelta Espana / Tour of Spain.  The nine riders are: Michael Barry, Manuel Beltran, Janez Brajkovic, Tom Danielson, Stijn Devolder, Vladimir Gusev, Benoit Joachim, Egoi Martinez and Jurgen Van Goolen.  Two reserve riders have also been listed: Volodymyr Bileka and Gennady Mikhaylov.  The 61^st edition of the 2006 Vuelta Espana begins on Saturday August 26^th in Malaga and ends on Sunday September 17^th in Madrid. The route consists of 21 stages - 1 prologue time trial, 2 individual time trials, 7 mountain stages and 11 flat/intermediate stages - covering a total of 3,120 kilometers.

Sports Director Johan Bruyneel has chosen a Discovery Channel squad that is a mix of seasoned veterans and rising talent.  On the team selection Johan Bruyneel stated, ?Selecting this team was not easy for me as we have a lot of guys that are riding very strong at the moment but I feel that we have a very solid team in place that will work well together. Tom Danielson is set to be our leader for this race and I believe he has prepared very well. With the team that we have to support him I am confident that he will be able to finish very high up in the overall classification.?

The Discovery Channel Team looks to improve upon the achievements of their two previous grand tours of 2006 where they wore the leader?s jersey and won stages in both races.  The Vuelta squad has a number of riders that have had individual success throughout the season.  Below are highlights from the nine-rider squad in 2006.

Michael Barry - 2^nd place Eindhoven Team Time Trial, 3^rd place stage & 3^rd place overall Sachsen Tour.

Manuel Beltran - 2^nd place stage and King of the Mountains at Castilla y Leon & 4^th place overall at Tour de l'Ain.

Janez Brajkovic - 5^th place overall and Best Young Rider at Tour de Georgia, 3^rd place on stage and 5^th place overall at Tour of Catalunya & 4^th place stage and 5^th place overall at Tour de Suisse.

Tom Danielson - 1^st place on stage, 2^nd place on stage and 2^nd place overall at Tour de Georgia & 2^nd place on stage, 3^rd place on stage and overall winner at Tour of Austria.

Stijn Devolder - 3^rd place on stage at 3 Days of DePanne, 1^st place on stage at Tour of Belgium & 2^nd place overall at Eindhoven Team Time Trial.

Vladimir Gusev - 4th place (later disqualified) at Paris-Roubaix, 2nd place overall at Eindhoven Team Time Trial & 1^st place on stage, 4^th place overall and Best Young Rider at Tour of Germany.

Benoit Joachim - 2^nd place overall at Eindhoven Team Time Trial & 1^st place at Luxembourg National Time Trial Championships.

Egoi Martinez ? 3^rd place on stage at Castilla y Leon, 2^nd place overall at Eindhoven Team Trial, 3^rd place on stage at Dauphine Libere & Most Aggressive rider on stage 4 at Tour de France.

Jurgen Van Goolen - 2^nd place on stage at Tour de Suisse.