Originally Posted by
HillRider
Just for the record, Lance, and a few other riders, did this on some mountain stages because the setup was slightly lighter than using two STIs.
These days with the UCI mandated minimum weight requirement and bikes that have to be ballasted just to reach that weight, saving a few grams by using a downtube shifter is a non-issue.
IIRC Indurain et. al. ran this in their day too.
Another reason for this being a decent weight saving solution was the fact that they would not be changing chainrings that much on the big climb stages.