I think it will make "a" difference, but whether or not it makes "the" difference is the main question. I see your point, that AC is still way ahead of Lance at this stage.
I not sure he beat him "straight up" given they were on the same team. Of course its all speculation at this stage, but when AC beats LA on separate teams, then its more than fair to say he won straight up, but at this stage, I wouldn't say that. Without a doubt tho, he did beat him for sure.
In regard to the team side of things, I guess the advantage for Lance here is that despite not being the best in the peleton, t
hat team can cause some distress for AC if they attack first. If they wait, AC will just attack and the tour will be over, so it's arguable that the team will make a difference, but its also arguable they wont make any difference whatsoever - we find out in 8 months

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I guess that the only way Lance wins is how Sastre won in 2008. Strongest team propels not-the-strongest rider to the win. Probably won't happen on a hill finish like sastre did, but maybe the only way lance wins is time on the cobbles, time in the wind breaks, and its a huge prediction but I'm gonna throw it out there that he beats AC by a minute in the 50k TT (i've explained in many thread my doubts about ACs TT ability in flat 50k TTs, this is not AC bias becoz im a big fan of his). Will that mean he wins? probably not, but we'll find out in 8 months
All that said, I will not be barracking for anyone other than Cadel Evans, so hopefully the RadioShack vs Astana rivalry continues, and they forget about a certain world champion, and he sneaks his way onto the top step
I apolgise to Andy Schleck for this, becoz he's a superstar, but I'm predicting the same podium at the tour in 2010 as I did in 2009, Armstrong, Contador, Evans (note, that is alphabetical order, not my actual prediction of 1-2-3). For some reason I think Schleck will blow up in the final TT and maybe be something like 5-10 seconds off the podium, but I wish i'm wrong. Of course, I was wrong about Schleck this year, happy to be wrong again.