If you want to know how Discovery Channel is going to race in next month’s Tour de France, watch how the team performs during this week’s Dauphiné Libéré.

While all nine Discovery Channel riders who will race the Tour aren’t here or not quite in top condition, this week’s French race provides a nice preview of what fans can expect in the Tour.

With the retirement of seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, the American team is no longer the dominator or the reference point in the peloton, but that hardly means the proud squad is ready to rest on its laurels.

Just look how the team is racing this week. Discovery put five riders in the top 20 in the 43km individual time trial Wednesday and then sent Jose Azevedo on the attack Thursday up the brutal flanks of Mont Ventoux and he almost pulled off the victory. Azevedo entered Friday’s climbing stage of the Izoard in fourth overall and George Hincapie in ninth.

While the final Tour team has yet to be named, Discovery Channel boss Johan Bruyneel says the team won’t be a spectator come July. Without the pressure of riding for Armstrong, the team will have more freedom to attack, to animate the race and try to pull a surprise.

There are no more guarantees without Armstrong, but that hardly means it won’t be any fun.

VeloNews European correspondent Andrew Hood caught up with Bruyneel ahead of Thursday’s stage, here are excerpts from the interview:

VeloNews.com: Five riders in the top 20 in the time trial, how do you rate the team’s performance?

Johan Bruyneen: It’s good to see, what I hoped to see. It’s the way we are riding this year and the way we want to ride in the Tour de France, knowing we don’t have a specific leader, but with a team that is very strong with different riders. There were no real surprises, George was fourth behind Dave, Floyd and Levi – which is normal. It was the ex-U.S. Postal sweep. You saw Gusev there, Martinez and Popovych, I am happy with the result.

VN.com: How do you see the rest of the Dauphiné unfolding for the team?

JB: I told the guys that we’re here to race. We’re not going to save ourselves like before. The Tour remains the most important race, but it’s different from before. We knew we had to be there (at the Tour) from Day 1 and carry the race. This year it’s different. All these guys come quite fresh into the Dauphiné and they need some racing. It’s a different mentality. Today and especially in the stage in the Alps (Saturday), maybe the top the guys will be there, but with a team that is very present with four or five guys.

VN.com: You said earlier you are looking at putting Hincapie, Azevedo, Savoldelli and Popovych into the first half of the Tour and then support who’s riding best, is the plan still the same?

JB: It’s how I would like to go into the race. Not with the obsession like the past years, but with the knowledge we have a deep team. We have to get those guys in the best position in the first mountain stages and then we’ll see what we can do.

VN.com: How far can George Hincapie go?

JB: I don’t know. It’s the first time he’s in that position. I don’t want to put the limit too high. You have to be realistic. From what I know from him and how I can calculate the difference between working for a leader and riding for himself, a realistic prognostic he can be the top 10. Going from there, it can be up to him to see how high he can get.

VN.com: Has George changed his preparation at all in his transition from worker to Tour leader?

JB: Until now, not really. It’s mainly his mentality that’s change. He has about the same weight. Last year, coming into the Tour, he was really skinny and he was good in the mountains. You don’t get any skinnier than you can get. In the end, he’s a tall guy with muscles and bones, you can’t change that.

VN.com: Some people are suggesting that Discovery’s time is over, that without Armstrong, the team’s best days are behind them, what do you say to that?

JB: Of course, it’s not what it was. Discovery’s time is definitely not over. I think we have built over the years a certain organization that works well. I can see there are a lot of riders who want to come to our team. Lance is gone, of course, but we have still good riders and guys for the future. It’s true that we are in a transition year and everyone has to get used to a different way of racing. Maybe the outsiders - the public, the press, the fans - they are the ones who have to get most used to the new way of riding. We have already assumed it and getting used to it. I think everyone was used to seeing eight blue guys and a yellow guy behind, but that’s going to change now.