Originally Posted by hi565
But I mean in general, like 2003 he had 60 sec, i think that Jan could have gotten it back? Or is it that the postal team is like a wall and if you try they will take you out immediately? is it a rule or something that just happens?
The problem is one guy just isn't ever going to out-ride the peloton... ever. Breaks in the TDF are allowed to go away for a number of reasons but the main component of every long break is that no one in the break is a serious GC threat. Jan is a fantastic rider but he cannot ride the whole USPS team off his wheel and gain 60+ seconds. Even if T-Mobile decided to ride as hard as they could, USPS will just sit in and enjoy the ride with Jan making no time gains.