71 Floyd Landis (USA) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 0.49.49
83 Manuel Beltran (Spa) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 0.55.39

Did anyone read Johan's comments after the satge? Beltran's spot might not be safe either

"...and maybe a two guys who [whose form] are not so good...it's the first indication but it's not the determining factor for the Tour team or for the rest of the week."

That is lot of time to lose in 5k... I hope FL climbs like a mountain goat in the Mts or else....

-Nik

I think it would be foolish to judge Landis and Beltran based on this TT. Looking solely at the results, since we don't get coverage here, it seems pretty crazy. Oscar Sevilla got 6th place! WTF? Remember when he lost the Vuelta because he couldn't TT? George Hincapie was less than a second behind David Millar, the reigning world champion? George has gotten very good at time trialing, but he's not that good! Ekimov, a very good TT man is way down, at 35th. The results are so weird, I don't think they can be meaningful in judging form.

...since we don't get coverage here, it seems pretty crazy...The results are so weird, I don't think they can be meaningful in judging form.

There was a Cat 4 climb in the middle of the course. GH is in good shape. Miller has spent too much time fending off allegations of cocaine abuse and is not.

And judging by Sevilla's performance during the Classique des Alpes, he has really good form. The whole Phonak climbing crew does. Looks like Phonak and T-Mobile will have stronger teams than Postal at the Tour.

There was a Cat 4 climb in the middle of the course. GH is in good shape. Miller has spent too much time fending off allegations of cocaine abuse and is not.

And judging by Sevilla's performance during the Classique des Alpes, he has really good form. The whole Phonak climbing crew does. Looks like Phonak and T-Mobile will have stronger teams than Postal at the Tour.

Yes, Phonak is looking surprisingly strong. I think Tyler has really brought out the best in a bunch of journeyman riders. I haven't seen much of T-Mobile but I suspect that unless Jan recovers his form (I think he will) and fitness, they won't have a strong GC contender, except for Vino...

I too was wondering how Floyd lost 50 sec. in such a short tt. He had great form early, maybe too early. It is hard to see how USPS is stronger without Heras, but from what I see of the Tour. Lance can win if the team wins or loses very little time in the TT, and he finishes within 1 min of Heras and Mayo in the Alpe TT. I'm guessing that E-E will be 2 min behind in the team TT, and Liberty Seguros will lose by a similar margin.

I'm really anticipating the Tour this year. Every rider with GC hopes has so focused their training on the race that the margin for error has become even more razor thin. I don't think you'll see a major contender able to ride away from the field on the climbs, like Lance has done in the past.

In my wildest dreams, it comes down to a time-bonus sprint on the Champs Elysees, with George leading out Lance for the victory...hey, it could happen!

Yes, Phonak is looking surprisingly strong. I think Tyler has really brought out the best in a bunch of journeyman riders. I haven't seen much of T-Mobile but I suspect that unless Jan recovers his form (I think he will) and fitness, they won't have a strong GC contender, except for Vino...

I too was wondering how Floyd lost 50 sec. in such a short tt. He had great form early, maybe too early. It is hard to see how USPS is stronger without Heras, but from what I see of the Tour. Lance can win if the team wins or loses very little time in the TT, and he finishes within 1 min of Heras and Mayo in the Alpe TT. I'm guessing that E-E will be 2 min behind in the team TT, and Liberty Seguros will lose by a similar margin.

I'm really anticipating the Tour this year. Every rider with GC hopes has so focused their training on the race that the margin for error has become even more razor thin. I don't think you'll see a major contender able to ride away from the field on the climbs, like Lance has done in the past.

In my wildest dreams, it comes down to a time-bonus sprint on the Champs Elysees, with George leading out Lance for the victory...hey, it could happen!

Add that to the fact that the real decisive stages aren't until late in the tour - this should be closer than in past. I also agree that Jan Tyler lance will not be able to ride away from everybosy on big climbs as in the past - maybe pure climber like heras and Mayo (although maybe not such a pure climber anymore) will still be able to ride away from folks in Mts... 3 1/2 weeks away....

-Nik

I'm not so worried about Floyd as Beltran.

Floyd is a great young rider and a good all-arounder. I think it will be more important to support LA with more specific team skills. Floyd could pull on the flats and tempo a mountain or two early in the stage. He was not meant to be an important mountain support rider at crunch time...Beltran is. Beltran had a good tour last year and it could be argued that he was more of a key player than Heras (or atleast he was helping LA instead of JU). Beltran out of shape means so much more (to me).

Anyway, it was a wierd prologe, maybe Floyd did not warm up a lot...or has a passing cold. He did put in a strong spring and young legs may be tired. Beltran may just have sat up as the prolog did not hold interest for him.

But, one rider who posted fairly well was Azevedo. (I'm firmly in the "Azevedo replacing Heras is a good thing" camp.)

that 1 or 2 seconds sends you from top ten to 70th, placing is really unimportant. Yes this TT benefitted climbers obviously and not true TTers. Phonak look great, right now to me a bigger threat than T-Mob as Phonak is built a la USPS, around 1 rider. I don't think Liberty will lose much or any in TTT, remember they are the old ONCE who have owned this event. EE may suffer a bit but are building around it more than indiv. stage guys (non-inclusion of Lasieka for example). I also don't think LA will lose time on AlpD Huez TT. yea yea he's not a pure climber....funny how the only 'pure climbers' who have ever dropped him when it mattered (when they were a GC threat) are few and far between. I think Jan will suffer here more than any other top GC rider due to his size and/or lack of fitness.