I bet if Floyd had been in 3rd at 2:30 down he would have waited till the last climb to try for 1:30 and tried for the rest in the tt. It was the confluence of circumstances that put that strong a rider that far back with that many other riders higher up that were worried about their other competitors and had already written Floyd off. Long breakaways suceed in every grand tour ... they just rarely have a true gc threat in them because the other teams always respond to a gc threat.