Trab don't be foolish. No joke, I was racing & watching the tour since before you were born, kiddo... I'm stoked if we have another cycling fan on the boards, but if you're going to make stupid assuming remarks without having read the entire post, do us a favor and fuck off.
To actually respond to your thoughts.. Armstrong is absolutely able to win, assuming Astana dominates the TTT and that Lance beats Alberto in the prologue & ITT. In a sense, Johan would have no choice but to demand the team support Lance through the mountains, and if you are telling me that you think anyone else will be able to stick with Bertie & Levi doing pacemaking up the Colombiere & Ventoux you're nuts. If Lance ends up going to France and Levi has another good year, fact is everyone else is in for a whole lot of trouble from Astana. There really just aren't the severe mountains or tough TT miles for someone without a strong team backing to win or compete with 2 or 3 superdomestiques day after day.
This highlights an important & smart detail.. I think the tour route is setup to really foster overall team strength versus dramatic individual efforts. What this should encourage is the need for teams to build a very strong group of riders to do well in the TTT and moreso to control the race day after day. You don't have any of those days where someone can light up the group for more than a minute or two, with the exception of the climb to Ventoux and given how gentle the stage leading up to it is, it should only prove so tough because it is coming at the end of 3 weeks.
In effect it should minimize the effects of an individual doping, unless of course are one to assume that their are in fact still team doping programs going
