The Aussie kangaroo beat up the Red Lion badly. Cadel Evans started to impress me by mid-Tour already, when he showed that climbing a mountain wasn't going to be a problem for him. He kept well under the radar though, and didn't get attention. He also saved forces, just participating, not initiating. He actually gets upset at his peers, if they don't chase when it would be his interest. Today he was impressive, a bundle of force, yet a particular and nice style. Sturdy bike too, to support the assaults of such an unleashed beast! The kangaroo has a yellow jersey in his pouch.
The Schlecks put up a nice fight. Maybe they showed some improvement in time trials, though not significantly enough to prevail. Martin and Voeckler and Contador too went deep into their reserves.
The strategy to apply for Andy Schleck was obviously either to get to today's stage with at least 3 minutes to lose, or to be prepared at a maximum for this time trial stage. He didn't have that time cushion. Preparing for the time trial is "complicated". This starts with scouting its itinerary. I was appalled to read that Andy Schleck reconnoitered the terrain only this morning. I took some issue before with the celebrity strategy that seems to prevail at team Leopard: too many photo-ops, and probably a deficit on getting down to business. I would rather have spent several days exploring the significant stages of the Tour, up to the last turn, the last meter.
Time ago I thought Lance Armstrong would have done such a thing.
Scientifically, not public relationally. See therefore my blog from July 31, 2009:
http://egidethein.blogspot.com/2009/07/luxembourg-tour-de-france-armstrong.html
Or simply drill down to July 2009 in the blog archive on the right. Nothing has changed to the rationale. To the contrary, the 2010 and mostly the 2011 experience give the thoughts some good validation. You can't win with your mouth. Only with your legs and a scientifically prepared head and body and strategy. And our boys have the great gift of extraordinary talent, that guarantees success after a good preparation.
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