This is a guest post by Mr.Q, a professional quizmaster and an ardent Tour de France follower

The Lance influence !!

As the tour starts of on the third of the Alpine stages, the race for the top contender is now becoming a show of team strength. With several teams totally out of contention, its Astana & Garmin Slipstream teams which are putting the riders right up front and keeping the rhythm & the speed going. To see the Astana team minus Leipheimer chugging away right in the front reminds one of the Discovery team & US Postal team days, when Armstrong, in order to make sure that he doesn’t get caught in any untoward incidents used to ensure that his team rode right at the front, even if they had to lead the peleton.