Yeah. Very hard one to call. I dont think Ullrich is a spent force though. Not at all. I think Armstrong had him beaten before the bus arrived at the start line. But, no one else puts the ****s up him like that. He is still an awesome time triallist. And, he is outstandingly strong towards the end ot the mountains. I think that even Basso will have had a very hard time dealing with him (towards the end, unless he gets monster breaks in early). Then you have these guys like Alexander Vinokourov, who have no respect, and a love of pain. He will monster Basso in time trials too.
There are a couple of very decent spanish climbers. Also that italien dude, Cunego, sick last year.
Yeah. Really hard.

All completely depends on the team. (Ie, look how well Heras did when he was with US Postal, and then.... so... yeah) You just dont get winners like Stephen Roche, Merckx, LeMonde going out and winning a tour by them selves any more.

Jesus. I love the tour. Its like chess crossed with roman gladiator fights. Wtih pretty scenery. I will miss Lance too. That look. How scary would it be to ride against that? I think last years tour... Ullrich and someone else broke, and left him on a hill. And, both of the riders were so confused that Lance had let them go, they started looking at eachother, and basically slowed up and let him catch him. It will be a while before someone makes them that scared again.

Abdu was scary enough. Half way there with just that name. He regularly bent the frames in the sprints so badly they had to replace them for the next day. Cipo got up to the same sort of game. Sean Kelly (The Hard Man) was really frightening too.

I always thought "The Animal" was your very own Sean Yates though.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/othe...03/3051666.stm

While i do enjoy watching them in the mountains (Totally crackers!! 60 MPH downhill on those tyres?) I can't see why they don't fit transponders to the bikes to get an accurate time? not much of a race if you finish in the peleton 100mtrs behind your mate but get credited with the same time.

It has to be this way. They used to have it so each person got their own time. But, thie means that there is (much) more pushing in the peleton. Which leads to crashes...
Its not worth the riders while to have that second factored in for a multi stage race (when you factor in the potential danger of shoves and crashes.

(I have hit 50mph on descents, and a bunch sprint is a much scarier place to me, even when this rule is in effect.)

BTW those tyres will be at about 110 psi. And glued onto the rim. Sometimes they roll off the gluer screws up. Sometimes the heat off the rim heats things to the point they explode.
And, there are no shocks, so when you hit bumps, the bike sort of takes off a bit. And, then when it touches down, it basically instally takes off again. So, it feels like riding on ice. You have very little control around bends. You can angle your body down, so the wind pushes you onto the ground... :lol:
It can be hairy. Thise guys are very brave.
(I became a better descender when I started driving bikes though...)

My guess is Ullrich is a bit like Sete Gibernau... he can be really good, he's showed it many a time before, but when it comes to psichology, they're beaten before the race even starts. I must agree with philipMac, with Lance off the race he might have something more to say.

You know I really hate the way that the French continue to persue Lance over drug allegations.Time and time again he has been proven clean,yet they just will not accept it. Instead of allowing the guy the unequivocal acclaim that his amazing achievements deserve. :evil:

No wonder he has never been able to relax and let his personality shine through. Plus being a joker would never have seen him create the legacy that he has in the tour. :wink:

How can it be called the tour de france?

They should call it Eurotour :? :lol:

world series - US (plus one Canadian) Baseball teams

America's Cup - Sailing competion recently won by Switzerland!

i'm sure there's loads more, but i'm bored already.....

:lol:

If it doesn't come to Portugal, it can't be Euro! :D