Who will it be?

Who will it be?  Disco has been a strong team for seven years all due to one intensely competitive leader.  Their successes in races other than the Tour have largely been due to the perception that each rider MUST do his job without any excuses.  We have seen that if a rider is not doing his job, he is just gone.  Based on what I have read, this has been due to the overbearing leadership and intense competitiveness of Big Tex.  
With LA gone, who will assume this role?  Unquestionably Disco has a very talented team.  Can Eki drive all of the younger riders to work their asses off?  Can Azevedo’s shot at the Tour be the force to drive the team through the year?  If I was Bruyneel, I would have picked my horse to lead the team already.  The ’06 Tour is only 8 months away; better get pedaling.
Discovery Channel for 2006Jose Azevedo (P) Michael Barry (Can) Manuel Beltran (Sp) Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Volodymyr Bileka (Ukr) Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Tom Danielson (USA) Stijn Devolder (B) Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) Vladimir Gusev (Rus) - newRoger Hammond (GB) George Hincapie (USA) Leif Hoste (B) Benoit Joachim (Lux) Trent Lowe (Aus) - newEgoi Martinez (Sp) - newJason McCartney (USA) Gennady Mikhaylov (Rus) Benjamin Noval (Sp) Pavel Padrnos (CZ) Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Hayden Roulston (NZ) Paolo Savoldelli (I) Jose Luis Rubiera (Sp) Jurgen Van den Broeck (B) Jurgen Van Goolen (B) - newMax Van Heeswijk (B)