yes, Contador is the man man to beat because he is­ taking too much drugs

Congatulations to Contador for attacking his own Team­ the result is Astana is still not in Yellow going into­ Stage 9. Contador has tipped his hand, now the gloves­ will come off and the real battle is about to begin.­ The I in Team has become apparent. Looks as if he has­ alienated the Team and is now on his own.

Getting back to the race then... I nearly called it,­ Casar just pipped, but got the combativity prize. (rest­ day is Monday not tommorrow,slip sorry). Cavendish­ needs to win some more stages, if Hushvod is going to­ knock off intermediate sprint points.

thestallion.62 - If you had nearly died from cancer,­ you would not start up and actively support a cancer­ charity as a marketing tool. With regards to who he­ hangs out with and how many books he writes is up to­ him, who cares about that anyway? I agree he has an­ ego, I never disputed that. I was merely correcting an­ inaccurate accusation regarding the money aspect of the­ Tour. Just a point about cycling (or any sport) and­ money - if you were a real cycling and sports fan, you­ would realise that money is not the reason you do­ sports, no matter who you are.

u guys need to lay off the cheap drugs.go out and buy­ yourself some good dope if you wanna make nationalistic­ comments.no one can dispute the fact that Armstrong is­ the greatest TDF rider ever but IS NOT the greatest­ overall cyclist.Merckx won more races than anyone in­ history.An unsurpassed record for the past 35­ years.Lance will crush Contador in the individual time­ trial.Contador will crush Lance in the big­ mountains.Should end up 1,2 on the podium.Don't­ count out Leipheimer or Schleck either.

Liz, I applaud the Live Strong Concept, however what a­ great marketing tool it is, as is dating hollywood­ starlets, and pop idols, hanging around with film star­ buddies, making films, books about ones life etc etc­ the list goes on and on, oh and is he not planning on­ running for the top California job !! Ego and Money my­ dear, ego and money !

"the PROBABLY greatest cyclist­ ever"...."Personally for me Indurain was­ the­ greatest"....my friends, please don't take me­ wrong....everybody have credit of their own opinion, I­ can't argue on that, same as I don't like­ someone to put words in my mouth. My point was that­ "LA vs.AC so called battle" is a journalist­ set-up, and that we all-true fans of TdF-should­ concentrate on real race. Remember constant­ Armstrong-Ulrich, Armstrong-Basso "duels",­ and the other way in the real race that maybe happen­ 2-3 time at most. Reminds me of villain-hero story all­ the way...And excuse me, but TdF don't need bunch­ of villains to prove someone as hero. LA don't need­ villain anymore, so why is the whole drama arround him.­ And Alberto also don't need heroes to prove­ himself. I've just wanted Danilo, Ricardo, Vino,­ Ivan and Alejandro could make it to join this bunch and­ to complete this edition. Watch Andy, Bradley, Noche­ etc...there are many people much worthy of comments­ this year than these Astana boys. Kloden for me is the­ revelation after many years of riding, and I'm­ waiting for Schleck Sr. to strech his legs...he's­ kind of lazy since now...

bojandh, he decided to return to cycling to promote his­ charity. He also got inspired by last year's­ Olympics when he saw alot of the older athletes doing­ well, he thought why not? Do you really think he needs­ the money? Perhaps you might live your life through­ money, but some people have different priortities in­ their life. If you have a good read of the Livestrong­ charity website and keep up with it day to day and see­ first hand that life is not just about money.

the stallion 62, all his sponsorship is for the­ Livestrong charity also. Perhaps you might want to look­ on the site and donate some money yourself.

No doubt Lance Armstrong is the greatest Tour de France­ cyclist ever, but to be the absoulute best he needed to­ have The Giro, Vuelta and some classics in his­ palmares.

Well I have to agree with Goce J about "sitting­ back and enjoying" and I personaly don't­ believe in this LA vs. AC @#%@, but this "greatest­ cyclist­ ever" business is something else, for me­ its Eddy Merckx.

Goce j, sure you have made some valid points, but­ claimimg that Lance is possibly the greatest cyclist­ ever is technically incorrect. Previous riders results­ clearly speak for themselves !!

Goce well said, totally agree, this tour is shaping up­ to be great and makes up for last years grey tour, give­ my regards to the alps. been to Alpe D'uez twice,­ Morzine, Start and finish of final day when LA won his­ last. Paris and south of France stages last year, I­ love this race. Look at the white jersey contenders­ this year there lies the future, some great prospects.

Well disscusiion board financial impact or cycling­ glory is so out of reason. Lance has both: 7-time­ winner, multi-millioner.... Same happen when MJ came­ back to play for Wizzards. Listen all you people before­ writting anything-I've been watching Indurain,­ Zulle, Pantani, Ulrich, Armstrong, Basso, Contador...­ in the past 20 y., many times at the scene at Galibier,­ Alpe d'Huez, La Toussuire, La Mongie, Les Deux­ Alpes...and they are all the best. We all must­ appreciate LA efforts for giving this year joy to see­ him on the tour. So my suggestion for all of people­ around the world-sit back and enjoy the ride of the­ probably greatest cyclist ever. He has proven that, and­ Alberto is here to prove the same, just like Andy,­ Carlos and the others. Personally for me Indurain was­ the greatest but Lance show us all that he is the­ strongest and toughest of all time. Alberto has the­ ability just like Indurain and we expect to show in­ this and following years all of his arsenal.­ Commercially this year TdF 100% tops all the previous,­ and be sure that next ones will be even more. LA made­ the brand and sure he will back with the strongest­ sponsors next year no matter as a manager or a rider.­ And Alberto will ride for his team more than 1000%,­ just like Basso years before...so sit back and enjoy,­ now i'm heading to Alps to setup for stage 17 and­ others...

Ok, so lets speculate on this. Armstrong is riding, to­ promote Livestrong. To inspire and help cancer­ sufferers the world over. He is donating all his­ winnings to Livestrong. He is also showing you can win­ clean. He is paving the way for JB and himself to form­ the Livestrong team after Astana implodes.This team­ will not feature Alberto Contador or Kloden. It will­ feature young and upcoming riders like for instance­ Nicolas Roche, and some real contenders pinched from­ other teams. The money that Armstrong makes from these­ sponsorship deals you talk about will fund this­ team,(remember that it takes an annual budget of­ between £4m to £8m a year to fund a team), along with­ probably another main sponsor. lance Armstrong will­ lead the team for one season then really retire.

Face the following facts. Lance Armstrong said that if­ Contador made a big dig he would "probably stay­ with the other favourites," which is exactly what­ he did. Contador is a great rider, and just because you­ like LA doesn't mean you can dismiss Contador.­ There are other contenders in this race not just LA and­ AC, and they are just hanging in there waiting. Cadel­ Evans will not feature. The individual time trial and­ the Ventoux will decide this race unless one of the­ elites does something spectacular (crazy) prior. Todays­ stage will see Contador in yellow and be won by a­ breakaway by somebody out of the gc running, who has­ the legs and knows its a rest day tommorrow, so is­ prepared to give it a go. Sandy Casar anybody? Ag2R can­ hold the jersey till the next hilly stage if they put a­ man up the road then control the pack today. In other­ words there are a lot of options. Just one last point.­ In tennis 18 months ago people were saying that Roger­ Federer was on the way out, aye right, as we say in­ Scotland. Great winners never lose that will to­ win,thats why they are great, don't blame Lance­ Armstrong for going for it if he feels he has the legs,­ and if he does not win, but loses giving everything­ that is to his credit, he will have been beaten by­ somebody who is a bit special over the 3 weeks, and­ that may not be but probably will be Contador. Lance­ Armstrong doesn't need to win the race to have made­ a successful comeback, although people who do not­ really understand what it takes to do this race may­ think that anything less than winning is failure.

Liz S, and can you explain to us, please, why is the­ riding this Tour? Im missing the point? To show us he­ is the best ever? Haha.. W8 for a few years to come,­ and then we will put up that question again... For the­ last time i sincerely hope...

Liz, come on get real, whilst he may not get paid by­ Astana, look at his tie up with Nike, trek, Oakley, etc­ etc etc, he is making a lot of money out of this tour­ come back, imagine the revenue he will generate through­ the publicity media channels, the list is endless. This­ is NOT about cycling glory its about financial impact­ and ego.

the.stallion.62, Armstrong isnt riding again to­ reassert his financial standing. He is not taking a­ salary for this tour, and any money/sponsorship etc is­ going to his charity Livestrong. People are too quick­ to dish out abuse without checking the facts.

Well said Suze. Listen everyone, we should be revelling­ in the fact­ that the new tour focus is on this renewed­ battle­ between Armstrong and everyone else on the tour­ instead­ of the shame of drug cheats. These men, all of­ them,­ deserve our utmost respect for what they put­ themselves­ through in this extraordinary test of­ stamina and­ courgage. I don't hate anyone on tour,­ I respect­ everyone's achievements from the first­ to the last.­ The battles between Contador, Armstrong,­ Evans, Shleck­ et al are good for the tour. Its keeping­ us glued to­ our screens again. Let's enjoy it