So, who's laughing tonight?

I wonder what the final TT will be like if Lance or Cuddles or Levi can keep it close until then…

I hope this will be a daily feature throughout the tour

What is the plan for Wiggins/Sastre/Schleck now?

I mean where do they find 30+ sec to Lance/Conta? (Barring crashes and other disasters of course).

Okay, so essentially Sastre rode as expected, no? But ASchleck has dug himself a huge hole I mean where does he find 30 sec on Contador? As it stands, Conta could activate the Armstrong Strategy- Follow wheels until he makes an attack at a time and place of his choosing, defend/dominate in the TT in the and then- in theory- the Tour is his.

Bralisford/Wiggins showed naivete to GT stage planning…I was really disappointed that Wiggins, the TT stud with with only 2 TT stages in this Tour chose to overthink the weather and then ride a pedestrian race when conditions did not suit. I think that he is not good at varying his effort when conditions are not perfect or to his liking (Remember the bike throw at last years TT WC?).

I am convinced that he also approached the prologue like the Olympic 4000m- WHich works except he is not racing the clock in a perfectly controlled dome on mirror smooth surfaces in airconditioned comfort- he is racing on the road, in the elements and winning the stage is secondary IF he really considers himself a GC threat. The ONLY time that matters is that relative to rivals and he should have done a much better job to race yesterday.

And I don’t wanna hear about weather conditions… Even if it was pissing rain, TdF Racers are paid to find a way to put down a spectacular time (see Martin, T, Millar, D or Farrar, T- all of whom rode wonderful times in the wet…) so to shut it down and say you are preservingyourself is a stupid strategy- You can’t find that time later- barring disasters- and it makes no sense to have roaring form in week three when you start day 2 30 seconds behind. Did SKY forget that there are no time bonuses and so you can win the stage and still lose the race?

Stupid…

On the other hand, LA drilled it today because he knew that putting 30-40 sec into Schleck/Sastre/Wiggo/Basso NOW is much better than trying to slice seconds out of them in the Alps/Pyrenees later. Conta then had LA’s times to base his effort on while being careful, and then Cancellara was Cancellara. Does anyone think that it was coincidental that these 3 cats rode last??

I think that by treating this as an Olympic event where the other riders largely don’t matter, Wiggo/Sky showed a severe tactical weakness that may well come back to bite them…

ASchleck has presented Riis with a really massive tactical problem to manage- But since he is jumping ship, I would not be surprised in Riis shifts tactics to Defending the Jersey as long as he can, and seeing of Cancellara can pull off an early stage win a la 2007

Sastre showed his tenacity and grit, and the fact that he is on the backside of a Brilliant career

LA showed that he came to play, but 9 flat K’s is a bit different from climbing the Tourmalet- twice.

And Conta showed that he is right where he needs to be, and can hang with the big TT studs when necessary- I expect him to focus all his attention on staying upright and in the Peloton as he activates the Armstrong strategy until the Alps. I think he tries to shed the level “B” rivals there and then rides away in the Pyrenees…
Then expect a similar intelligent performance on the last TT if he is in Yellow!

But then again, I though that Wimbledon mens final would have had a Certain R Federer in it today as well, so let’s actually have the race no?

Cheers!

DoctorNurse