Here's the top competitors:
JAN ULLRICH: The German won in 1997 but has since been a four-time runner-up, including three times to Armstrong. Last year saw their closest race yet, with Ullrich losing by just 61 seconds. Ullrich also placed second in 1996, his first Tour, showing great promise that he has yet to truly fulfill. The 30-year-old will tie Dutch rider Joop Zoetemelk's record of six second-place finishes if he's runner-up again. He has a strong new team, says he is at his "ideal weight'' and is determined to win. Armstrong rates him as his biggest rival.
IBAN MAYO: The 26-year-old Basque rider finished sixth last year, a vast improvement over his 88th place on his first Tour in 2002. One of the few riders to have bettered Armstrong in the mountains, he won the arduous Alpine stage to the L'Alpe d'Huez ski station in 2003. Armstrong expects him to win the stage again this year. His team fared poorly in the team trial last year, losing more than three minutes to Armstrong's U.S. Postal Service. Should be helped this year by new rules that will limit losing squads' losses in that event. Mayo suffered a blow two days before this Tour when one of his teammates failed a pre-race blood test and was barred, leaving his squad one man short.
TYLER HAMILTON: A former Armstrong teammate, Hamilton proved his mettle by riding most of last year's Tour with a double-fractured collarbone suffered in a crash on Day 2. He still won a stage and placed fourth overall. Now leader of the Swiss team Phonak, he says last year's feat boosted his confidence for this Tour. While lacking Armstrong's explosive acceleration in climbs, Hamilton is strong all around, both in mountains and on the flat. "I guess I have a diesel engine,'' he says.
IVAN BASSO: The Italian rates Armstrong and Ullrich as the main contenders but still could produce surprises of his own. Seventh last year, he says he wants to attack this year. But he also says that he expects to be fighting Mayo and Hamilton for third place. At 26, has youth on his side. Says his ambition is to win Tour in the next two or three years.
ROBERTO HERAS: Longtime Armstrong's right-hand man in the mountains, the powerful Spanish climber quit to lead his own team, Liberty Seguros, and could be a force to reckon with for his former leader. At a pre-race news conference, Armstrong did not name Heras in his list of main rivals -- a possible sign that the Texan doesn't want to talk up his new rival's chances.
http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news;_yl...slug=ap-tourdefrance-rivals&prov=ap&type=lgns
This is in flat Miami too. So, I guess a hilly stage like today's would have friggin killed me. I gotta give respect to anyone who can go 200km on a breakaway and still have enough energy to pound out a strong climb to the finish.