it's boring because there was never a doubt. the whole "will he or won't he?" thing was an orchestrated marketing ploy to advance the lance [and discovery brand]. it was like "who shot jr?" that's what i find boring.

as for his greatness... i am willing to concede that armstrong is the greatest tour de france rider ever. however, he does it with so little elan that i find it uninsteresting. i only watched the first week of the tour last year. i probably won't want this year's at all. i do find it dull. whenever any athlete or team dominates a sport for so long, whether it's the yankees or lance armstrong, i find it uninteresting.

and i think the lance brand managers know just how uninteresting the whole thing is. that's why they resorted to the "who shot jr?" strategy this year to keep everyone interested.

personally, i'd rather be doing my own racing that seeing what the best bio- and cycling technology can accomplish in the tour de france.