Yellow jersey contender Cadel Evans remains upbeat despite the unwelcome news that Silence Lotto teammate Thomas Dekker has been ruled out of the Tour de France due to a positive doping control.
Dekker, a two-time Dutch champion, was set to help Evans in this year's July 4-26 race but found out on Wednesday that a sample from December 2007, kept for later re-testing, had tested positive for the banned blood-booster EPO.
On paper, it disrupts the plans of Evans, a runner-up the past two years on the world's biggest bike race and one of a handful of real challengers to Spaniard Carlos Sastre's 2008 crown.
However, the 32-year-old Australian put a positive spin on the incident, which means Britain's Charly Wegelius comes in to replace the disgraced Dutchman.
''We're here as a team to do what we can, and unfortunately this announcement changes our plans a little bit ... but we have time,'' Evans said.
''Charly Wegelius is on his way here and we'll still concentrate on doing the best Tour we can.
''This year our team had 11 riders worthy of riding the Tour de France and of course there are only nine places. Now we're down to 10 riders and there are still only nine places [for the Tour squad].
''Fortunately we had a team strong enough where we had that depth in numbers and we could have another good rider who we hope is going to be at his best and do the job that we need.''
Evans finished second behind Sastre last year having come second best to this year's big favourite, Alberto Contador of Spain, in 2007.
On both occasions the support from Evans's team was arguably inferior to that of his rivals', although the Australian has never openly criticised his teammates.
This time around, in Belgians Jurgen Van den Broeck and Johan Vansummeren, and fellow Australian Matthew Lloyd, Evans may have found the teammates who can accompany him in the crucial mountains stages.
Evans will head into the Tour's opening stage in Monaco as one of the stars but probably not in the top three challenging for overall victory.
Those include 2007 champion Alberto Contador, seven times Tour champion Lance Armstrong and 2008 winner Sastre.
Others to factor in the overall result could also be Giro D'Italia winner Denis Menchov and the Schleck brothers, Andy and Frank from team Saxo Bank. AFP/AAP