Suzie Green

1. Armstrong sees the possibility of a cross wind splitting the field.
2. He positions himself on the train of the fastest riders in the last kilomters, aka Columbia.
3. He banks on getting enough time to "slightly" leapfrog ahead of Contador.
4. Tuesday's team time trial result potentially puts him in yellow, if all goes right.
5. He gets additional exposure, hoo ha, TV time, added benefits for his own agenda.
6. Contador regains jersey in the mountains, back to status quo.

Relax!

Howzit

You mean when Lance got dropped, thats when he conveniently "waited" for Levi?

classic1

Columbia-HTC, Skil and Armstrong = smart

Everyone else = dumb

Racing in escalons is becoming a lost art.

Shadco 

Wouldn't you agree that it was really stupid for Contador and quite a few other GC contenders to miss the break?

Reid Rothchild

Nah, it's a long race. I think it's going to be decided by a lot more than 35 or 40 seconds, at least where Armstrong is concerned. Obviously Contador would like to have made it, but it's not going to matter all that much.

This whole thing reminds me of 2004 with the cobbles and Mayo crashing except to a lot lesser effect, and the guy Armstrong is trying to gain time on is on his own team.

Besides Armstrong, what other possible GC contenders were in that break?

Contador is only 19 seconds down. Unless he crashes, I don't see how Armstrong can beat him.

I'd be really surprised if Armstrong finishes higher than he did in the Giro.

iab

No. Too early in the race, too little time gained and no one of consequence to matter.

Shadco 

It may have worked out that way this time.

It's not like the peleton ever wads up at the front after this type of split taking folks out, nah that never happens. Why take the chance?

jaxgtr

OK, I did lots of cleaning. Took out all the snarky, non-topic and any ankle biting. Please keep it on topic, no trolling, no baiting and remember this is just a flipping forum about cycling. There is no reason to make things so high maintenance as it not really all that serious, no matter what that cartoon says.

Enjoy the tour and have fun posting, but jeez, give it a rest with all the personal agenda's and the ankle biting. It's getting really old.

2wheeled

I think Contador will break some legs on the first mountain top finish. His frustration must be approaching boiling point with all the media hype that's going on.

xfimpg

Thanks

SpongeDad

I generally don't like trash talk from winners, but Cav's comments about people who ride like juniors get results like juniors was brutal.

Tsuru

Some Saxo Bank power numbers from Stage 3 - https://www.velonews.com/article/94684