veloboy--- nice clarification----Andy T----- Apologise­ if I offended anyone.

chadwilliams, (comment 11) any rider not finishing a­ ttt stage is eleminated! any rider finishing off the­ back of their team is given the time they finish in,­ not the teams time and if they are outside the stage­ allowance they are eliminated.

chadwilliams (comment 11), I don't want to get in­ to an argument over this. I simply responded to what­ was actually written, and I believe my comment to be­ factual. I am a little surprised at how personal your­ message was, then again perhaps not.

Finally money is found.)
its a shame that Vino is not­ going to ride for Astana on Tour though)
ehhh, they are­ just not letting him ride.
Vinokourov must be the­ leader of Astana, not Contador or Armstrong with all­ due respect to those great riders.

Just as I expected - LA continues to generate great­ debate and interest. I'm not knocking­ Armstrong's past record as a Tour rider (emphasis­ on 'Tour' rider on the basis he didn't care­ about anything else, at least post-cancer), I'm­ merely calling into question his decision to come back­ to racing, not his desire to remain involved in­ cycling. Personally, I think it's a shame and has­ created more of a circus around Astana, rather than­ genuine media interest in the sport itself. That all­ said, if he feels his mere presence in the peleton is­ raising awareness/funds to fight cancer, so be it, but­ I'm not convinced it does.

Lance Armstrong's Astana team?! Not yet! Anyway,­ glad that the money issues have been ironed out.

I do not see the need to knock down Armstrong. He seems­ to have embraced the role as domestique and could very­ well be the key to either Leipheimer or Contador­ winning the TDF.

PEDRO118118, I think your post is the very best post­ have ever seen on this forum, it's articulate, to­ the point and 100% true, fantastic. You should take­ over from Blazin Saddles! Lance Armstrong is the new­ George Forman!!!! LOL

Eurosport - It is not Lance Armstrong's team he­ does not own it nor is he in charge of it. It is also­ not clear if he is going to be the team leader.

terrytrudgian---- I believe bobcha is referring to the­ TTT miss european know it all.

bobcha, any rider not completing a stage gets­ eliminated.

If Astana dont win time trial, is going to be disaster­ for them. Thay have 5 riders in top class with time­ trial skills, and only five riders needs to completing­ time trial stage (Leipheimer, Contador, Kloden,­ Armstrong and Popovych maybe Brajkovic)

Alex, 'big threats doped out'. I want to see­ performances, even lesser performances, that I can­ believe in. Pete, forgive my European ignorance, could­ you name me the stronger American teams. Hamish, unless­ Astana decide who is their team leader I can't see­ either of them (LA, AC) winning.

cudnt agree more scott

Why is Lance's comeback madness? So many riders­ have no chance of winning and generate little interest­ from the media or any other group. Lance can finish in­ the Top 10 and increase cycling's media outreach by­ an order of magnitude. These are not good reasons for a­ comeback? Has everyone been drinking cidre in Brittany­ with Hinault? The man is a legend, creates a buzz­ around cycling, helps cancer patients, brings attention­ to his team mates, has won the TDF 7x (ie 2 TdF's­ more than anyone else) and finishes in the Top 10...­ Wow - what a stupid reason to keep on going....

Astana is a strong team. But I would like to see more­ Stronger American Teams in the Tour de France.

I­ expect another American to win the Tour. . .

Its great to see Astana in the Tour. They have the­ strongesr team by a long way in my opinion and unless­ he crashes or has an unfortunate punture I cant see­ anyone getting close to Contador this year.

Good points Pedro re Armstrong, although he did seem to­ be getting exponentially better in the second half of­ the Giro (actually nursing Levi up the climb in one­ stage). Armstrong will never win in the same fashion­ that he has in the past, but I think his best hope now­ is to pull an Indurain-esque Tour - win the 2 time­ trails and hang on in the mountains for dear life. I­ believe it will be closer than you think, but agree in­ that I just can't see him on the podium. That said,­ this is a fairly weak year in terms of quality as all­ the big threats have doped out. Having TdF winners­ without having won a single stage is starting to become­ the norm.

I just can't see it happening - Contador is in a­ different league to Armstrong. To borrow from Top Gun­ (appropriate don't you think?!) his ego is writing­ cheques his legs can't cash. There will be a­ ding-@#$% battle, but I think that will be between­ Contador, Schleck, Evans and Sastre.........and­ possibly Leipheimer. Armstrong will grind to a top 10­ finish but won't be able to live with the­ younger/fitter/lighter riders on the harder­ mountain-top finishes. Personally, I think the comeback­ is madness. By all means get involved in cycling to­ promote the cancer foundation, but to make up the­ numbers in the peleton..........why?! The last thing­ he needs is to become known as the George Foreman of­ cycling.............although he does like putting his­ name on stuff?!!

Great! Now let's get to the racing. I'm praying­ for something like a repeat of Hinault/Lemond­ circa-1985 or 1986. I don't have a horse in this­ race. I just want to see some competition, not 189­ riders listening to those infernal earpieces.