beetle,
Remember, I get terribly confused when you speak of non-cycling related matters. I'm guessing Jacqui and Jack are related to Dolfinae and Dauphine. The others are strangers.

Height and weight just relates to power/drag-area vs. power/weight. I don't want to overstate its importance, but in general big guys are better at going down and sideways and small guys at going up. HughJ should know.

onerad,
You're right that it's too early to compare Millar's talent to Indurain. I was thinking more in terms of size and type of cyclist.
You might be right about Mercado. Heras and Simoni have won Grand Tours and so could Mercado. And yes, Mercado has already shown more talent than Piepoli. My guess is that Mercado is taller than Piepoli too!

Flyin,
I agree with you about aging. I should add that a cyclist of Hamilton's age is non-aging if nothing. (If anything, he's de-maturing. Else if nothing, then he's non-aging, ie forever young. Jeje.)

So you're not hinting that Armstrong is due for a mental breakdown and thus isn't a safe bet to win the TdF?
I thought that was an interesting idea in light of the widely held theory that cycling is 90% mental and 10% physical.