R U ready for the Tour?

The Tour de France is fast approaching and I'm here to get you up to speed.
I know you all only think of Lance Armstrong when it comes to the sport of cycling, however, there is so much more going on! Lance will always be closely associated with the TdF due to his unprecedented 6 consecutive wins (after a comeback from cancer no doubt). But I'm here to put you in "the know" about this years TdF and who to watch for.
We all love to see Americans do well in international sports, so in addition to cheering on Lance in the TdF this year, you can also root for Floyd Landis. Floyd was one of lances main lieutenants in last years TdF but has since moved to the Swiss team Phonak. Floyd will be Phonaks GC (General classification aka overall winner) hope this year, but he's been riding strong this season and had some impressive time trails. So we'll see if he can handle the pressure of being the team captain.
Another American who looks to do well in the overall at the TdF this year will be Levi Leipheimer of the German team Gerolstiener. Levi has had good results this year as well and just took 2nd in the prologue Time trial at the Dauphine Libre (a French race that is largely viewed as the main tune-up for the TdF)
Still another American is Bobby Julich of the Danish team CSC. Bobby has had arguably the best season of his pro career so far by winning the Criterium International and Paris Nice. Bobby isn't necessarily the all out captain of the CSC team though, he is one of a few great cyclist that CSC will bring to the Tdf. The head of the team will most likely be determined as the race shapes up and the CG contenders start to get sorted out.
And yet another American that you may want to keep an eye out for is Chris Horner of the Spanish team, Sanuier Duval-Prodir. Chris has had some bad luck so far this year by breaking his leg in a crash during an early season race. Chris has done the required re-hab to get back in shape and is riding well. He just placed 3rd at this past weekends US Pro Championship Race and rode strong at the other two races included in the Championship week. Saunier Duval doesn't have Horner listed on their roster for the Tdf as of now. He's hoping that his results from this past week, as well as a strong result in the upcoming Tour de Swiss will get him included in this years Tdf. He's highly motivated to get on the Tour team and has not been subltle in voicing his desire to race the Tdf.
In order to educate you even further in Tour de France knowledgege (so you'll look like a genius at the water cooler) I'm going to let you know who to watch out for as far as the opposition goes:
T-Mobile from Germany is bringing their triple threat of Jan Ullrich, Vinokourov and Andreas Kloden. All of these guys have made it to the podium in the Tdf in the past, with the most notable being Ullrich's 1997 Tdf win. Ullrich finished the tour 4th last year and 2nd every other time he raced it (except '97 of course), which makes him a threat every time he lines up. The rumors are that Ullrich is in the best shape he's been in since winning in '97, and with a strong team around him, they will definitely factor in to the overall.
Other names to look out for are Ivan Basso, who also rides for CSC. Basso was Armstrong's main threat in last years TdF eventually finishing 3rd overall. Basso was argueably the strongest rider in the peloton (group) at this years Giro de Italia (tour of italy) but didn't finish high in the overall due to an ufortunate stomach bug during one of the key stages.
Iban Mayo who rides for the Spanish Team Euskadel-Euskadi is great in the mountains but will have the same old issue with a weaker team supporting him, but look for him to do well in individual mountain stages.
In closing I'll get back to Lance for you. As I always say at the start of the TdF, if Lances team (Discovery Channel) can keep him out of trouble in the early flat stages then I think he's got the best chance of winning the whole thing. Unfortunately there is a certain level of luck involved in winning a race that spans 3 weeks and over 2000 miles. Just because Lance comes into the TdF with a high level of fitness doesn't mean he'll be there at the end. Anything can happen.