Guess Who?

Remind you of anyone?

And the other young riders, were they resentful of the old man's return? Let's ask Matt Crane, 23, who was awarded the Most Courageous Rider jersey after escaping on a long breakaway in stage 5. Crane rides for a U.S. team called Jelly Belly, which values every second one of its jerseys appears on television. Did he resent Armstrong's siphoning of media attention from his team?

"Having him back is a great thing," replied Crane, who grew up in Connecticut. "Lance started winning Tours right around the time I started riding and racing a bike. He was the guy I worshipped for years. Before my mom repainted the walls in my room, they were covered in Lance posters."

So what if the guy's a black hole for media attention? "When Lance is here, we get bigger crowds, more TV coverage, which makes the sponsors happy," says Voigt. "In his slipstream we live well."

The last word goes to the peloton's foremost wordsmith, Barry: "The races Lances is doing, the attention he's bringing to cycling—it's good for everybody. It's going to be an unbelievable season."