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I don't think you can underestimate the team aspect. Having a team around you on the mountains helps when someone else attacks, they can pace you back to an attacking group, they can provide drinks and food when needed, etc...

My opinion is that Floyd simply had a bad day that was made worse by not having a strong team around him. The T-Mobile guys were driving the train today on the final climb.

Floyd has had a tremendouse amount of success this year and was an outside favorite for winning even before Basso and Ulrich were tossed out. In this diminished field, saying that 5th-8th place was expected for him is totaly wrong. His extent of his implosion today was totally unexpected.

I don't totally discount the importance of having a strong team around you, but I think that only accounts for part of Landis's problems today; he just seemed out of gas. As for whether 5-8 would be a low finish in the Tour, it would be better than he's done before. On my personal tip sheet, I had him 5th, even after the withdrawal of Basso/Ullrich/Vino/Mancebo. And I had Hincapie even lower.

My personal hope was Leipheimer (3rd on my sheet, behind Valverde and Kloden), who seemed to be peaking at the right time. And I might sound like I'm contradicting myself, but one reason I rated Landis lower than most is that he lost two key members of his team right before the race. I also figured Evans and Menchov as top contenders, followed by Sastre. But I was dead wrong in predicting a comeback for Mayo (6th).