He's the most recent tour winner on the team so I think they owe him that.

I agree, besides Bruyneel says Contador is the team leader.

He's also "first among equals" if what Bruyneel's statements imply is correct.

No matter...I don't think either rider (Armstrong or Contador) is going to put as much thought to the number as the armchair conspiracists...errrr...quarterbacks will....

He is listed as team leader on the Astana website. But, only time will tell if he will be allowed to be the true leader of the team.

I think he is the leader. If it was lances team then Horner would be on the squad

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True, I don't think either one is dreaming of wearing #171 or what ever it will be since they weren't there last year.

where have I been? I thought Horner was on the squad? I thought he suffered an injury?

It's too bad that Astana doesn't have bib numbers 1 - 9, and then Contador could get No. 1, and Lance could get No. 7.

Horner is on the team payroll, but left off the 9-man Tour roster. Word was LA lobbied for him, but the last spot went to one of AC's boys, so that pretty much answers the question of who's the top dog at least for now.

I know numbers 1-9 goes to the team of the winner from the previous year; after that how is the numbering decided? As mentioned new teams get the "higher" numbers like 180's: on the other hand CSC doesn't exist this year. Maybe it has to do with the team member with the highest GC place from the previous year?

I think it is based on the prior year's GC. I seem to recall that LA was always wearing #1 while Ullrich was always wearing #11.

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Thanks. I thought I wasn't losing my mind.

Yeah but Lance has Levi, Yarislov and Kloden. They had to give Alberto one guy who would side with him if it came to that. Don't think giving the Best rider one of his preferences when Lane already has 3 (possibly Kloden is on the fence but you know Levi and Popo are there for LA) answers any of the top dod questions that we are all creating.

My question is?
How annoying is it going to be hearing Hummer, Phil and Paul saying Lance, Lance, Lance, Lance as in every 2nd word out of thier mouthes. Hell someone could pull a Landis type of ride and be 17 minutes up the road and we are going to have to hear about how Lance has been retired and how he broke his collarbone and how he farted downwind from them one day and it just brought back such pleasant memories of his absolute supreme greatness. Wish I could watch what promises to be a really exciting race without wanting to throw up every 2 seconds. Sad Phil and Paul used to actually do really great commentary before they joined Versus.

Or number 8. ;-)

I'm pretty sure I read that a spot when to a Kazach....something that would NOT have happened if the squad weren't sponsored by Astana. I don't think he's Contador's OR Armstrong's "boy". If I recall...Bruyneel was considering Horner and Noval...and NEITHER one of those guys made it.

Sadly, gotta agree. I like Phil and Paul, and even Lance, but I am afraid it's going to be a ridiculous Lance fest. The giro was bad enough and he wasn't even in contention

Yes, one of the spots went to a kazakh rider to meet sponsor obligations. Here's where I read the info according to Horner:

http://blog.oregonlive.com/horner/2009/06/astanas_chris_horner_explains.html

http://www.velonews.com/2009/start-list

21. Alberto Contador (ESP)22. Lance Armstrong (USA)23. Andreas Klöden (GER)24. Levi Leipheimer (USA)25. Dmitriy Muravyev (KAZ)26. Sergio Paulinho (POR)27. Yaroslav Popovych (UKR)28. Gregory Rast (SUI)29. Haimar Zubeldia (ESP)

yeah, yeah...I know it's old news,