Originally Posted by busygizmo

I think criticism of the makeup of BMC is unwarranted, if TJ's team hadn't done its job he probably misses the split on Stage 2 and is in 4th place right now. The reality is that when it is down to a dozen riders or less very few leaders are going to have teammates. Sanchez did a good job to stay there for a long time for TJ and their other climber (Caruso) is supposedly not feeling well but might recover for the Alps.

The teams that probably need questioning are Astana and Saxo, they seem to have a ton of climbers on their respective rosters and they weren't able to bring anyone to the tour with the right fitness to stay with their leaders. If Sky deserve credit it is for getting riders fit at the right time.

I thought the tactics were a little strange yesterday, Froome's attack seemed almost more emotional than anything. He only distanced his own teammate and Mollema who was barely hanging on. I can understand Movistar not sacrificing Valverde to set the pace set because that isn't going to do anything since Froome's tactic is already to follow strong wheels then attack. The only way it seems possible to unseat Froome is to attack repeatedly or send someone up the road from a long way out and even then the odds are real long. I don't think these displays by Saxo or Astana forcing the pace are going to do anything other than shell lesser riders but who knows, they may eventually wear Sky down and put Froome on the defensive. It was also curious to see Valverde attack when Nibali was of the front, which almost played into Sky's hands. Valverde isn't always the brightest bulb. Valverde may well be as strong or stronger than Quintana but he has a history of cracking at least one day or making a tactical blunder. Quintana seems to be mentally a lot tougher and has a history of getting stronger as the race goes along.

With only 1:12 separating places 2 through 6 the last week is going to be interesting for the podium. It would be nice to see Froome get gapped one day to make things exciting.

It’s a bit unfortunate for Greipel, and fan interest, that he got dropped today. This stage always looked like it would be the decider for the Green Jersey. I think the Tour organizers only implemented half the plan when it came to making things more difficult for Sagan to repeat. They added points for winning “sprint” stages but they didn’t put enough straightforward sprinter stages in the route.

Nice win by GVA!

8 stages left and 15 teams don’t have a stage yet. Must be some stressed out directors.