Calistus you have to update your info.

I do not know what Iban may be taking but he was/is not average cyclist at
all.

He was the dominat amateur cyclist of his generation in Spain.

In 2001 (with 23) he won the Midi Libere and the Classique des Alpes (in
front of Armstrong and Tonkov) and won one Stage in the Dauphine Libere
(6th?). He had a very dissapointing tour 2002 (the whole Euskatel had a
horrible performance), but he was 8th in the Vuelta.

This year he has won the tour of the Basque Country (2.H.C) and was second
to Tyler in the LBL. He made Armstrong work a bit in the Dapuphine (where he
won 3 stages?).

In any case, let me just add that if you think that Iban is too good to be
true you may not be ready for the one that nobody is talking about.

The one that was supposed to be THE real thing was Haimar Zubeldia (I even
had him in the list of top ten for the TdF in this newsgroup a couple of
years ago). In Spain he was considered the cyclists with more potential to
win the tour since Indurain. After an excellet year 2000 he had done nothing
(until the prologue and today). Keep an eye on him! He can TT.

Unfortunately for Euskatel-Euskadi the problem is not one of talent (also
from the Euskadi came Beloki and Igor Gnlz.Galdeano) but one of management.
It reminds me a bit of the old Kelme. The team has completely overreached
the objectives of the original management (that was only prepared to operate
at a regional level) and this shows (for example the lack of preparation for
the TTT - they admited not a single TTT test).


"Callistus Valerius" wrote in message
...
How could a relatively unknown rider, named Iban Mayo, go from an average
rider to a superman in the space of a few months. I think I know how this
trick was pulled off, but I don't want to ruin the tour for many of you
out
there.