ONCE (Beloki)
After saying lots of nice things about the Posties, ONCE is still the deepest team. Beloki’s not exactly world’s behind Lance, and Azevedo finished sixth last year. They lose Galdeano to a collarbone injury, and as awesome as he was last year, he is no Beloki. They are heavy favorites to win the team competition again, but I just don’t see them winning any individual awards, except for a nice podium finish for Beloki.

JASON: They’re always among the best teams, and there is no reason to think the team will not contend for the best team time. There’s no reason to think Beloki will not contend for the podium. There is also no reason to think Beloki will be able to overtake Lance Armstrong. This may be his best chance to finally beat Ullrich.

STEPHEN: It's not like he was as far behind Ullrich as Ullrich was to
Armstrong. Give the guy some credit. He has a chance to win even if Ullrich wasn't doing his best Marlon Brando impersonation.

JASON: I give him credit for being one of the last guys Lance drops. That's impressive. But he's cracked repeatedly at the moment of truth. He rarely shows the guts to attack, but he is willing to attack when Lance is at the team car (last year).

STEPHEN: And that was the cowardly move among all cowardly moves. It was like Beloki admitted that he had no chance to beat Armstrong straight up. His spirit is absolutely crushed by the guy.