Originally Posted by alanbikehouston
Instead, Basso has modeled himself on Ullrich. Basso announced that the Tour is over. And he is content to ride five feet behind Lance all the way to Paris.
i think this is one of those things that lance does so well. he is good enough to catch most attacks himself, ride fast enough to burn out everyone else, which by default makes riders follow his lead. it's the ideal situation. as we saw in stage 14 with ullrich, you can attack but if you're not strong enough you end up losing more time when you crack and fall off the back. since lance isn't going to let basso or ullrich breakaway, they're kind of screwed no matter what they do. either pace and not lose too much time, or attack and risk losing even more.