With apologies to American teams High Road and Slipstream-Chipotle and the boys from U.S.-sponsored CSC, ol’ 10 Speed is thinking that a rider from either Astana or Rock Racing will stand atop the podium at the end of the Tour de Georgia.

Call me a sucker for the story angle Rock owner Michael Ball proffered in a teleconference on Friday afternoon. I’d been thinking of the similarities between Astana and Rock Racing as Tour-de outcasts — Astana vis-a-vis the Tour de France, and Rock Racing vis-a-vis the Tour de Georgia — and after Ball suggested the story line, I decided to go for it.

Astana, the best team in professional cycling, received an un-vitation from Amaury Sports Organization to all of its races, including the Tour de France, which essentially barred defending TdF champ Alberto Contador from wearing the teal of the Khazahk-sponsored team.

Meanwhile, Rock Racing got the Astana treatment from Tour de Georgia organizer Medalist Sports, on the heels of Tour of California organizer AEG barring three Rock’s riders on the eve of the race because they had been implicated (though never charged or sanctioned) in the two-year-old Operacion Puerto scandal.

The so-called Puerto 3 — American Tyler Hamilton, and Spaniards Oscar Sevilla and Santiago Botero — had approval and licenses to ride from their national governing bodies, yet AEG sidelined them because of the “ongoing” Puerto investigation.

All have raced since then, and Rock sued Medalist and the Tour de Georgia to get into the race. The TdG relented last week and agreed to a settlement allowing Rock in the race after Saunier Duval had to drop out because of injuries.

Sooooo, you have Tour-de outcasts Astana and Rock Racing, both not wanted at somebody’s party but primed to be the life of this particular party in Georgia.

Peachy, eh?

Astana, under the guidance of former Discovery boss Johan Bruyneel, has a chip on its shoulder and wants to show once again that ASO blew it by not inviting the team to the Tour de France. Astana’s Levi Leipheimer, the U.S. road race champ and last year’s third-place finisher in France, won the Tour of California for the second year running, and is primed to win the season’s second American Tour.

How bad does Astana want to win? Consider that the team called mountain lieutenant Chris Horner, who rode so well in California, across the pond to ride along with former Lance Armstrong lieutenant Chechu Rubiera in support of Leipheimer.

As for Rock, well, the team has a rock on its shoulder. Ball, a showman to the n’th degree, gave Hamilton et. al. second chances and wanted to have a break through performance in California, only to have the team be undercut by the Puerto 3’s banishment. The team then commenced to making a spectacle of itself, apparently to its detriment when the TdG invites went out.

But with the settlement and a truce and a promise not to “freak out” Medalist organizers, Ball’s team is primed to race in Georgia. Botero, Sevilla and Hamilton are outstanding climbers, and they have a nice supporting cast.

Botero is the team captain and at one time was considered a contender to end Lance Armstrong’s string of Tour de France titles. Hamilton, too, was once a Lance combatant before a failed doping test in the 2004 Vuelta sidelined him for two years. Hamilton will be riding in support of Botero … or Sevilla if he emerges as the stronger rider between him and Botero.

The Rock soap opera, which features an entourage, a film crew and who knows what  else to market the brand, always could end up distracting the team in its first appearance on a big stage with its best team of riders. But Botero, Sevilla and Hamilton are veterans of cycling’s European circus and should remain immune to the whatever comes from Ball’s showmanship.

At the very least, Rock will make things very interesting. At best, either Botero or Sevilla will win the whole thing.

But that’s not to say High Road, Slipstream and CSC are chopped liver. High Road with Tour of Missouri winner Big George Hincapie, the Slipstream boys with the 2005 winner Tom Danielson, last year’s runner-up Christian VandeVelde and U.S. time trial champ David Zabriskie, and CSC with American veteran Bobby Julich in the lead role — all could contend for the podium as well.

How’s that for couching my picks?