Road Bike Racing - Mercaton-Uno not starting the Tour?

I was going thru the Tour website and I have not found that Mercatone-Uno Cycling team is not starting this year Tour, and guest what Marco Pantani is a member of that Team, please correct me, becuase if that's the case with out Ullrich and Marco Pantani, whose going to challengs Lance?????

Considering Pantani's 2001 and 2002 [up to now] seasons, he's hardly in any position to challenge Pelopidas Margaronis [UCI ranking: 1584] let alone Lance Armstrong. Pantani is way past it now. The Societe Tour de France didn't invite Mercatone-Uno because there's no point. I'm hoping they'll decide to invite Coast at the last minute.

Having said that, there are many racers in the peloton who could challenge Armstrong. There are, after all, more than three bike racers in the whole world.

As I know all the teams for the TdF are already selected, so Team Coast is probably out, but there is a chance that Kelme won’t make it as they are in BIG, BIG financial difficulties (Kelme has not paid them for the past few months), so they might be forced to drop out.

As the Team Coast is concerned: Zhulle is not capable of wining TdF (my opinion) and Casero undergone a knee surgery just recently, don’t really know what it was but his form might be questionable.

The UCI and the STdF have extended the possibility of inviting one more team, depending on performance in the Giro.

Cool! :)

It would be nice to see Team Coast in, be good to see Acqua e Sapone there too. Both have riders capable of stage wins and good filler for sportspapers. But this is expecting a lot from the tdf who would rather have a bunch of also ran french teams instead.
rant exhausted
kevin