I’m seeing what you guys are saying. The vibe is coming clear to me; plus, adding Ventoux to the mix, I get it. And truthfully, so far Lance is keeping his Tour on the down-low, and as long as that continues, I’m happy.
He has said that one day at a team meeting, Johann will say which of the riders is the leader, and that’ll be it. If it’s Contador, they’re moving that way; end of discussion. As long as his ego stays where it should be, I can dig Lance.. and if his team-player attitude evolves as you guys suggest, it could turn into quite a redemption story of sportsmanship. At least for me and people like me. So.
Are we going to use this as a long-running TdF thread or would someone like to create a new one every day?
It remains to be seen how it plays out. It makes for an interesting side story to the Tour
One thing that can’t be ignored is the time off the bike. It’s double edged sword.
On one hand, there’s the lack of training/conditioning factor.
On the other, it’s three years for Armstrong’s body to rebuild/recover from the rigors of professional cycling.
It is going to be really interesting if they all stay within a minute of each other. How do you really pick one in that situation?
Judging from the Tour preview on Versus, Lance really really wants to win Ventoux. It would be interesting to see how that would play out if he is close to the lead that day. Not that I think Contador couldn’t keep up with him, but it makes for a lot of interesting scenarios.
I saw a blog from Chris Carmichael saying that Lance was back down to his ‘05 weight and improved every day in Italy. If he is looking strong next week, I’m really really glad I’m not in Bruyneel’s shoes.