Team Previews

Discovery

JASON: First, I think it is amusing that OLN has to advertise for the Discovery Channel for 3 weeks. This team is loaded. There is speculation that this team is better than any previous USPS teams. Well, the additions of Savoldelli and Popovych give more GC riders, but I’d rather have Ekimov to drive the peloton. Eki is also a huge engine in the team time trial. Without Eki, more pressure is on Padrnos, Hincapie, and Noval. The first two are solid; the third had trouble in his debut last year. Still, this is an excellent team, and no one has a better trio of climbing domestiques than Azevedo, Beltran, and Ruberia. Some guy named Lance is on this team too.

STEPHEN: The big advantage they have is the clearly defined leader. There’s no confusion about goals, its all about Lance. There’s just no chance that Azevedo or Rubiera will try and win this thing on their own, though they are able to compete for a podium finish. But they put the individual stuff behind the team goal. And in that vein, let’s give some love to Hincapie, Lance’s reliable domestique. Seriously, this guy has been working his ass off for Lance on every one of those Tour wins.

T-Mobile (Telekom)

JASON: The rumor is that Kloden is out of shape, so they expect to back either Ullrich or Vinokourov, whoever is stronger. Guerini, Kessler, Nardello and Sevilla make this a ridiculously deep team. Obviously, they left Zabel home to focus on the yellow jersey. OK, enough pussyfooting around, I’ll come out & say it: Ullrich is not the strongest man on this team. He’s great, and a threat to win, but Vino is stronger. Also, the team management is poor. For years they have come to Tour with no defined leader or strategy. They’ll land at least on man on the podium, but that’s in spite of, not because of their management.

STEPHEN: My heart goes out to Ullrich, who had the misfortune of riding against the Big Mig and Lance. He’s an all-time great, but lacks the Tour wins because of Lance’s dominance. So there’s this pity factor in almost all analysis of Ullrich, you can just feel people rooting for him to win one because he deserves it. Well, tough noogies. Because Vino is better in the here and now. Kloden’s taken a step backwards from last year’s breakout Tour, which means Vino will establish himself as the biggest threat to Lance. Nardello hasn’t done anything involving lots of his own blood in awhile, he must be mellowing.

CSC

JASON: Do we love this team, or what? Ivan Basso is their GC man. Sastre and Zabriskie are stage win threats. Julich and Voigt are fine domestiques. No threat for the green jersey, but a contender in everything else, including the team time. Too bad the left of Jakob Piil.

STEPHEN: Leaving Piil off is a tough blow. Piil’s not a great rider, but he’s super-aggressive, and he was a one-man wrecking crew last year. And it’s not like Luke Roberts is a young rider looking for his shot, he’s a 28 road pursuit rider. It’s like they went out of their way to screw Piil. Basso is an absolute stud.

Gerolsteiner

JASON: This could be the year I stop putting them down as a one trick pony. That’s because Levi Leipheimer joins Georg Totschnig. They could have two finish in the top 10, with an outside chance at the podium.

STEPHEN: Totschnig is a good rider, but he’s maxed out on his potential. And his Tour de Suisse was not encouraging. Is there anyone who thinks he can actually win this thing? And I’m ready to jump off the Leipheimer bandwagon. They can compete for the podium. Great. But aren’t teams in this to win? There’s a limited window sometimes.

Illes Balears (Banesto)

JASON: This is not the B-team. Mancebo, Karpets, and Valverde could probably win the team competition if their other 6 teammates rode the autobus. Valverde is probably going easy with the Vuelta in mind, but maybe he’ll aim for the mountains jersey or stage wins. Karpets & Mancebo are top-10 caliber and outside shots at the podium.

STEPHEN: Speaking of limited windows. How’s that post-Indurain world going? It’s taken them a decade to crawl back into contention, and even now they have only an outside shot in Mancebo. But at least they are in the conversation.

Phonak

JASON: Santiago Botero has returned from the dead, winning a mountain stage and a time trial in the Dauphine Libere. Oscar Pereiro and Floyd Landis give them a solid core. They had a terrible doping problem last year, but the team goes on.

STEPHEN: I can’t rationally talk about Tyler Hamilton. He was my favorite cyclist, and now he’s the new Richard Virenque. The team has actually done well this year, and they stand first in the ProTour standings right now. But the Tour’s gonna be tough on them. They should do fine, but they aren’t riding to win it all.

Liquigas

JASON: They were great in the Giro, but this is the Tour, so they’ll make a point to be half-assed. Garzelli is no longer a threat post-drug suspension. At least they have Magnus Backstedt, who won’t win anything, but is fun to watch because he is a giant.

STEPHEN: I’ll give the UCI credit, the ProTour has really prevented teams from taking whole races off. It meant a terrific Giro, and it should mean a great Tour. Liquigas isn’t exactly dumping the Tour like they have in the past. DiLuca seems honestly injured and Garzelli’s their top Grand Tour guy. The Italians are actually showing up to race.

Liberty

JASON: Well, they have to do better than last year. Will Heras be a factor at all? Joseba Beloki is no threat to win, but we’ll call it a victory if he finishes. The crash in 2003 could have ended his career. He quit the Giro two months ago. I hope he can make it to Paris.

STEPHEN: The fact Beloki can even ride is amazing. But the collapse of Heras is amazing, but not in a good way. He just hasn’t been the same since leaving the Posties.

Rabobank

JASON: Our Dutch boys have been in decline the last few years, but signing Denis Menchov should be invigorating. He’s their only threat for a jersey, but they do have a few former stage winners on the squad, including clumsy oaf Erik Dekker.

STEPHEN: I have Stage 13 in our annual pool of when does Erik Dekker crash out? I love the Dutch boys, but they can’t climb at all and they won’t contend for any jersey. This team is built for the classics, not the Tour. Menchov’s a top ten threat and Rasmussen can climb a bit. It’s a solid team, but nothing great.

Bougues Telekom (Brioches)

JASON: Do they try to get unpronounceable names? I’m just going to call them “Bogus.” Everyone on the roster is average at best. They do have last year’s hero, Thomas Voeckler, but do you expect him to have nearly as good a tour as he did last year?

STEPHEN: No. Voeckler’s ride was a fluke. Rous and Brochard are solid, and they won’t embarrass themselves.

Credit Agricole

JASON: Thor Hushovd has the best chance of winning the green jersey of any rider not named McEwen. Plus, they have Jaan Kirsipuu, who is no bad sprinter either. Will Christophe Moreau go for the King of the Mountains, or will he revert to his old yellow jersey pipe dream?

STEPHEN: You got to think he’s settled into the Richard Virenque career path of trying only for dots. I like Kirsipuu a lot, and Thor’s a bad man. McEwen’s better than both of them, but has the disadvantage of a lousy team. CA gives them a chance of winning the Green by virtue of team strength.

Cofidis

JASON: They had better hope Sylvain Chavanel is ready to ride with the big boys. David Moncoutie is decent, and there is Stuart O’Grady too, but he hasn’t done much in a while. It could be a bad year for Cofidis. Maybe they shouldn’t have cancelled Lance Armstrong’s contract in 1997.

STEPHEN: Not one of their brighter moves. Remember when they were players on the Tour? A decent team, but with no real shot at anything.

Domina Vacanze

JASON: About 6 years ago Wladimir Belli finished in the top 10. Sergey Honchar is capable of doing it this year. Aside from that this team doesn’t bring much.

STEPHEN: They aspire to mediocrity. They would kill for Cofidis’ level of sort-of-accomplishment. How depressing is that? They don’t even have the excuse that they are built for classics. They are not.

Davitamon—Lotto

JASON: Yes, they exist to win the green jersey for Robbie McEwen. He actually has lead out men on this team too. In fact, with Fred Rodriguez, Axel Merckx, Cadel Evans, and Mario Aerts on the team, they might have someone other than McEwen win a stage.

STEPHEN: McEwen should have dumped this team two years ago. Do they have compromising pictures of his family or something? With Hushovd’s leadout, he’d be a cinch to win.

Euskaltel

JASON: Has Iban Mayo learned to do a time trial yet? The rule changes help him: there is only one long time trial, and the team time trial has been watered down to reduce the losses. But he starts the Tour down 4 minutes to Armstrong because there is a 55 km time trial at the end of this thing. Landaluze won the Dauphine, so he could make more noise in the Tour. Euskaltel has a pattern of good year/bad year. Last year was really bad. Try to win in the mountains, guys.

STEPHEN: The greatest thing about Lance is that the Tour organizers redesign the course and the rules every year in order to make it harder. And he wins anyway. Even with the decreased importance of time trials, Mayo won’t beat Lance. It will not happen. And your boys in orange have awful this season.

Fassa Bortolo

JASON: Petacchi isn’t even starting this Tour. This team is only showing up because the sponsor would get ticked if the biggest team in the world didn’t show up for the premier event. Maybe someone will sneak into a breakaway and get a stage win. But do they really care?

STEPHEN: Well, given the new point system, they have to care. But I’m gonn miss mocking Petacchi.

FDJ

JASON: A team of average riders with a couple decent sprinters in Cooke & McGee. Will they have a great Tour like in 2003, or a pitiful one like in 2004?

STEPHEN: Give them credit. They went from marginal French team getting a charity bid to a legit tour team. They aren’t great, but they are a legit peleton team. Sometimes you have to be proud of those small achievements.

Lampre

JASON: A lot like Fassa—they are a big team showing up to a gunfight with an empty magazine. Simoni is a last minute scratch. They don’t bring much to the party.

STEPHEN: Simoni’s scratch kills them. As does Cunego’s. No team is hurt more by scratches.

Quick Step

JASON: If Tom Boonen continues to improve like he did in the last two Tours, he’ll push McEwen for the green jersey. Michael Rogers may be the real deal. He beat Ullrich in the Tour of Switzerland.

STEPHEN: But still didn’t win it (Gonzalez Jiminez did). But yeah, Quick Step is a team on the rise. Rogers is the best young rider out there, and Boonen won’t win the Green this year, but he will soon.

Saunier

JASON: Juan Garate rode well in the Giro and says he’ll try to win the King of the Mountains. The rest of the team is mediocre at best. They have an American, Chris Horner, which means OLN will give them a lot of TV time.

STEPHEN: No chance. None. Expect to hear lots about Horner’s fifth place Tour de Suisse.

AG2r

JASON: Jaan Kirsipuu used to be their man, now it’s Jean-Patrick Nazon. He’s a good contender for the green jersey and stage wins. Aside from that, they don’t have much to be excited about.

STEPHEN: Another marginal French team which somehow made themselves a decent team. They can sprint, which means they’ll be a factor throughout the Tour, if only as a lurker for the Green.