My Riders

Right about now you're probably wondering which horse to back. Well the great thing about the Tour is that you're allowed to have more than one favorite. You're even allowed to follow riders that you don't like, despise or even hate. How much fun is it to see those guys lose!

Here are a couple of my favorites and why.

George Hincapie (Discovery): Has raced the tour for 8 years, each and every time as Lance's chief lieutenant. His job was to break the wind and position Lance for each stage win. He's been such a close friend to Lance that Lance actually positioned him to win his first stage last year and he is now poised to lead the Discovery Team to another team victory. With great support from one of the strongest team's on the tour, Hincapie has a real shot to win the Tour overall. So what is Hincapie like? I equate him to the Pete Sampras of the road racing world. He is quiet, modest, methodical and strong. So if George is the Pete Sampras then Floyd Landis is definitely the Andre Agassi!

Floyd Landis (Phonak): Yes, the Andre Agassi of the Tour. This guy is the Tour Jester, but he's also got Brass Balls. He isn't afraid of anything. If you want to win the Tour then you have to be able to ride down the face of a mountain like a bat out of hell, and this is what Floyd does best. He's a strong all around rider and his 9th place finish in the time trial proves he's got what it takes to win the Tour.

David Zabriskie (CSC): Last year he wore the Yellow for the first 4 stages until he lost it in an unfortunate wreck in eye site of the finish line during the team time trial. Dave and Floyd are like peas in a pod. They room together, hang out together and both have had experience riding with Lance on Team U.S. Postal. They are veterans of the Tour and know what it is going to take to wear the Yellow. For Dave, this year is a little different. Ivan Basso, one of the favorites to win this year's Tour and one of the guys in the alleged doping scandal was Team CSC's captain. Up until the day of the race Zabriskie was to be one of Basso's lieutenants, but with Basso out Zabriskie is now the team leader for CSC and has a real shot at winning the Tour.

There are many other contenders who also have a legitimate shot at the win but these are the three US riders that I'm pulling for.