After a win in The tour of Romandy and LBL is it too soon to say he is a contender at the Tour de France? Or will he concentrate on Tour of Spain?
My understanding is that TH will now rest and rebuild for the Tour. With the fitness he has shown, let alone the morale he must be feeling, I think he must be considered THE rival to Armstrong. I’m no bookie, but I would put Ullrich number three, with the surprisingly good form he has shown after his “layoff”.
Although Tyler is impressive, I still think that the lance rivals will be the Once boys… 2nd place 2 years in a row… they also have a great team…
I don’t know much about the CSC team but if anything the USPS boys have shown that the team effort is as important as the individual effort… So it is to be seen how they are as a group
I have to agree that Jan is lookin pretty good though
I gotta say I hope there is another interesting battle for the green jerzey again this year…
I think the ONCE team is a little flaky and under-strength to challenge Lance. Telecom could be a strong team with Botero and the other signings they made over the summer.
If you look at his race sched between now and TDF, Hamilton looks to be going into a rest/rebuild stage to set himself up for a second peak at TDF, closing out with the Dauphine Libere, racing against none other than LA. I think Hamilton will be a serious contender for the TDF podium this year. Riis has built a strong team, an important component of the TDF. Look at Once. Beloki is probably not as strong as his recent finishes might indicate, but Sainz has delivered him well with the ultra strong team that surrounds him. Hamilton has the individual strengths going for him this year, as well. I look forward to a great GC this year, although I think LA has the tactics of TDF racing nailed much more solidly than his classics tactics. We aren’t likely to see him blast off the front chasing lesser contenders than Hamilton, Ullrich, Beloki, Botero(?), etc as he did when he ran down Merckx in LBL. One interesting facet will be whether Hincapie is at 100% for the tour. He is such a huge part of their strength at the tour, that without him pulling the blue train at the front of the race, LA will have to ride much more aggressively to stay out of trouble because Once, CSC, and Telekom will be the ones driving the train. If LA has made it look easy the last few years, a large part of that is due to his train, led by Hincapie, driving him, Heras, and Rubiera to the foot of the decisive climbs. Hamilton has some serious rouleurs in the CSC team who could take over that duty in a heartbeat. If Hamilton is somehow able to get himself into yellow after the early flats stages, I think we’ll see a huge catfight in the mountains.