The eve of the Tour is upon us and the expected news of riders being kicked out of the Tour happened. Basso OUT, Ullrich OUT, Mancebo OUT (and retired), Vino cleared but team booted from Tour for not having enough riders. The top 5 from last year will not be participating. This makes the Tour picks difficult. You could easily choose 10 potential winners and make a case for them but just as easily discount them for some weakness. If all else fails look for the well-rounded rider.

My mind keeps playing different scenarios and the name that keeps coming up more than any other for the win is Landis. He's proven the last couple years to be very strong TT'ist and a sound, but unspectacular climber. I'm banking on his awful Dauphine being an anomaly. He could not have been that far off the pace in comparison to his other performances this year. My biggest concern is Phonak. They are one of the most often drugged teams in recent years and with this year's increased drug spotlight everything come apart.

I'm risking being a homer but 2nd will be Leipheimer. A pretty good TT'ist, and another solid climber. Looked strong at the Dauphine and is the highest placed returning rider from last year. Not a great team but Totschnig should be good, too.

For third I'm going with Valverde. Good climber, good sprinter but a suspect TT'ist and I think the long time trials will take their toll on his overall placing. I like his team, though.

Then there is the horde of others that I have considered at one time or another for a podium. Those riders are Kloden (is he healthy?), Evans (improve TT a little), Sastre (still has the strong team), Karpets (awful last year but good all around), Azevedo (limit TT losses, Popovych (can he live up to early potential), Hincapie (bound to have a bad day in the mountains), Savoldelli (might handle these Mts better than Giro), Menchov (knows how to win drug-plagued GT's)