Miserable conditions continued to dog the Tour de France. One wonders when the dog days of summer are going to begin. We've had rain, wind, a few sparkling bits of blue sky, so far.

Probably what will happen is that it will turn incredibly hot the moment we get to the Pyrenees, and then it will be a suffer-fest of a different kind all the way to Paris like it was last year in the searing heat. Lance suffered tremendously from dehydration and the much hotter temperatures last year. So although it's impossible to enjoy these weather conditions -- perhaps for Lance, at least -- it's a little bit more manageable.

Of course Lance Armstrong won the Tour anyway last year. And one shudders to think what he might be capable of when he's 100% against this field of very solid contenders -- Tyler Hamiton and Jan Ullrich are looking to be the foremost amongst them.

Roberto Heras will probably put in some hard climbs in the Pyrenees to try to get closer to the yellow jersey.

Jan Ullrich has been fairly anonymous so far in the Tour, staying out of trouble, conserving his strength, being well guided by his T-Mobile teammates. It's looking like a showdown in a few day's time between Lance Armstrong and all of his rivals.

Other riders looking strong are Bobby Julich, Levi Leipheimer, Ivan Basso.

Iban Mayo is not looking to be a contender – at least not in this Tour. But if he can erase some of the 5.5-minute-plus deficit, then he himself could get back up there to contend against Lance, Jan, Tyler, etc.

Roberto Heras is still looking strong.

In the next couple of days, as we get through the first rest day tomorrow, the Tour will come to a boil. We won't be talking about skirmishes. We'll be talking about the all-out war for the yellow jersey.