Let it ride: Lance Armstrong's longtime coach Chris Carmichael answers burning questions heading into this year's Tour de France.

Sporting News, The, July 8, 2005

What are the keys for Lance Armstrong to win his seventh Tour de France?

* He needs to stay out of trouble early. The first 10 days are usually when a lot of the crashes happen.

* He needs to be in the top three in the overall race standings after getting through the Alps.

* This race will be won in the Pyrenees. They are the second set of mountains this year.

If we can't watch every day, which days and stages are the ones not to miss?

* The first day is the prologue time trial (Stage 1, July 2, 12 miles). Normally it's very short, about 3 or 4 miles, and not much time can be gained. But this year, it's much longer, so there is quite a bit of time that can be won or lost, and it is more important than usual.

* The summit finish in the Alps in Courchevel (Stage 10, July 12, 119 miles).

* The next day in the Alps that finishes in Briancon (Stage 11, July 13, 107 miles).

* The biggest day of the race will be the finish in Pla d'Adet in the Pyrenees (Stage 15, July 17, 127 miles). There are five hard climbs before the summit finish.

How does a team work together?

Everybody has a role. Lance is the leader, and everybody is built around him.

Three or four bigger guys on the team are there for the flatter stages at the beginning. They keep Lance out of trouble. They move through the peloton and take up more space, so they shelter Lance a bit from the elements--wind, accidents and so on.

A couple of riders are designated to get Lance's food. They pick up the food from the team car or from the designated food zone areas, where there's a lot of chaos and accidents can occur. They bring it to him so Lance can stay far away from that type of stuff.

The climbers are there to support Lance during the climb by setting the pace. Or, if there's an attack, they can go with the attack. Many times there will be a climb, followed by 5 or 10 miles of flatter terrain before the next climb. Let's say Jan Ullrich has attacked on the first climb and has a minute on Lance, but there's 20 miles of flat, rolling terrain before the next climb. Two or three teammates can work to pull Lance along and help him catch up to Ullrich while Lance doesn't have to do any work. Lance will be sheltered, and Ullrich is in the front with no shelter.

Who is Armstrong's major competition?

Jan Ullrich, Germany

Alexander Vinokourov, Russia

Ivan Basso, Italy

What happens to cyclists' bodies during the race?

They'll burn 7,000 calories a stage, so they need to take in about 10,000 calories a day. They will lose 2 to 3 pounds of fluid a day--just sweating--and 2 to 3 pounds of body fat by the time the race is over.

What's the recovery like?

It'll take usually a week to 10 days. During that time, Lance will sleep a lot, and he'll get on his bike a bit but not very much--20 to 40 miles a day. Riding easy is called active recovery. It's much better to speed the recovery process, reducing inflammation and increasing blood flow.