Roll's fun, sort of the Alex Karas of cycling. Even Trautwig is a big improvement over Adrian Karsten. Sad what happened to that guy, but honestly, he really made my teeth hurt.
The provencial POV in reporting, probably just human nature, gets pretty bad during the Olympics too. I haven't ever traveled, but I imagine coverage in other coutries is biased as well. I think the Tour might beat almost any other sport in number of nationalities involved, it's kind of cool. Also to have such an international mix to each team, except Euskatel. I like Euskatel's angle too though, using only Basque riders, must give a real sense of unity and pride that a corporate team can't really match.
Prediction? Nothing I'd bet more than a nickel on. Rasmussen's looking awfully tough but I don't know about his TT ability. Be cool to see him end up KOM and yellow both, has that ever happened? Maybe Merxx, come to think of it. I'm suspicious of Levi's allegedly not feeling well, but still doing well, is that more of the Lance type fake-out stuff? So much psych wit these guys, you never know.
On the upper/lower body physique, any idea why women aren't more competitive with men in distance cycling? I've done a fair bit of distance running the last few years, til a chronic injury indefinately ended that. When you get into longer ultramarathon distances women are very competitive with men, and sometimes beat the men outright for overall. For instance Badwater 135 miles, Pam Reed won that race two years in a row. I don't know another sport where that happens, it's a great thing to see. Even in RAAM cycling, where there is by definition not gonna be any sprinting, some women have done exceptionally well but never come close to winning.