[DirtyHippieUTE]

Assuming Ulrich and Basso both bring their best to the tour I'm going to go with Ulrich. One word... Team.

If Lance and the Discovery/Postal boys have taught us anything, it's that cycling is a team sport. Lance always had superstar riders on his team that were willing to kill themselves to put Lance in just the right position to win.

Last year Ulrich got screwed. Between Andre Vinokourouv trying to take the lead and Erik Zabel trying to win the green jersey, Jan didn't have the support of a coordinated team effort.

Look at the teams this year:

T-Mobile: Jan + gang. There are several accomplished riders but NO stand out names other than Jan. It is obvious that Jan is in the driver's seat and I think this will be his advantage.

CSC: Basso has all stars who might have an agenda of their own.

Carlos Sastre: doesn't this guy go for the polka dots? He'll be a helper if he can play the team game the way the Discovery guys did for Lance.

Stuart O'Grady: what good does this do? O'Grady is a green jersey contender and it's not like having a great sprinter on his team is going to help him dominate in the mountains (where this year's tour will be decided).

David Zabriskie: Sure he's a Utah boy and he's great at the ITT but how does that help Basso?

The rest of his team seems to be full of potential good little helpers. Namely; Jens Voigt, Frank Schleck, Giovanni Lombardi, Christian Vande Velde and Bobby Julich.

The thing is... Can CSC play the team game as well as Discovery. I think T-Mobile learned its lesson last year. I bet we'll see a much stronger team effort from them.

Side note: Who will be at the front of the Discovery pack this year? George?

If so, I give him a shot at the yellow. He could have been a podium finisher over the past few years if he weren't so busy busting his arse for Lance. If Discovery sticks to its solid team strategy the leader of the pack has a good chance. They still have an incredible supporting cast (Tricky, Echimov, Popo, George, etc...)