[artplumber]

Originally posted by k9handler
much of the tour and it's STAGE wins are never really what they seem. There are people every day who tell me how bad it was today as Lance finished 63rd in the back of the peleton...yeah he was scheduled to do that by the team managers. Each STAGE is calculated to the point the teams know exactly when to go and how hard...it's amazing!

I don't know if that's what we're really discussing. The issue is whether or not Armstrong is the strongest all the time. The mountains (& avoiding crashes in the flats) are what counts in the Tour. No one cares who finishes where in the peloton per se, more how far from 1st to the peloton. On the other hand, if you can stay on someone's wheel in the mountains that matters a great deal. The reason why Basso didn't do as well in the TT up l'Alpe? He is not good riding a paced ride on his own, or maybe he needs a rest intermittently with that much hill. But despite bernie's conspiracy theory, I am unconvinced that Armstrong clearly had more gas on La Mongie - I do keep an open mind about it though.