Originally Posted by Helmet Head
But the steeper the climb, the bigger the advantage the pure climbers have. It's not a matter of whether the peloton allows Rasmussen to ride away - the fact is that he can.
My memory could be faulty, but I don't recall any stage of the TdF in which Rasmussen has gained any significant amount of time on the main contenders except through a long breakaway. This group of contenders doesn't measure up to those of years past--after all, it's missing Ullrich, Basso, Landis, etc.--so maybe Rasmussen has an edge that will allow him to get away. Maybe.