The point I was making is that he won't skip next year's TdF to do the spring classics. A more accurate way of describing it would be skipping the TdF to do the Giro. I think he will do much the same spring classics in 2006 as he is planning to do this year.

I think next year will be his last year at racing and it will be like a grand lap of honour. I think he will do the Giro in support of a team mate who has a genuine chance and then concentrate on preparing for the 'Hour' Record.

Of course, all of this depends on him wining the TdF this year. If he fails, that is not part of the plan, so it maybe back to the drawing board to decide on how he races in 2006.

In reality, he will probably keep everyone guessing until he has to reveal his hand.

I never said LA sought to deceive. But by being coy about his plans, he allowed everyone else to make up their own minds, including you and me.

But, for once, he didn' lull Jan Ullrich into a false sense of security. Ever since the TdF route was announced in October - and probably before then - Ullrich has consistently said that he fully expected LA to line up at the start of the TdF in 2005. I've happened to have shared that view.

I suspect Lance is a big enough brand image not to be screwed around with by Disscovery. However, I've no doubt they expressed their likely delight if he chose to race in the TdF in 2005 instead of 2006.

But LA isn't getting any younger, and he stands a better chance of winning in 2005 than he will in 2006, simply because of his age.

If you look at his previous six victories, there are countless occasions when LA has fooled his fellow competitors into thinking he was weak. The one and only time he was weak throughout the race, in 2003, he still managed to win, which was largely down to poor tactics by those who could have beaten him and a certain level of complacency among his opponents.

Personally, I take his story about his back brake being stuck on during the climb up the Col du Galibier in 2003 with a large piece of salt every time I am reminded of it. In all his TV interviews during the 2003 tour, he never once admitted how he really felt. No suprise there, because everyone else would have capitalised on it. So we should not take things at face value.

Cycling is as much about what goes on in the riders' minds as it is about what goes on in their legs.

A significant element of LA's six victories was tactical gamesmanship, but not necessarily deceit. There seems to be a pattern to LA's tactics.

LA has used the same tactics fairly consistently, yet Jan Ullrich has frequently fallen for the same tricks, resulting in him attacking LA at the wrong point during a mountain stage and loosing badly.

Despite Ullrich's poor showing last year, some of which was down to illness at the start of the Tour (one of the reasons why LA himself was weak in 2003), I am sure LA still rates him as his leading opponent, with Ivan Basso only marginally behind.

Gamesmanship LA is guilty of; deceit he maybe guilty of, but only because others still haven't figured what he's doing; posturing I don't think he is guilty of, that is just the way he is.

It should be an interesting race this year.