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Originally Posted by simonc
Is anybody else dissapointed at lance armstrongs approach to the tour this year? ( ie playing it safe, hasnt had a stage win etc etc)...?
I'd have liked to think he would go out with a bang.unless he is planning a stage win in paris....not likely though
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I thought the same thing in Tour #5 (2003). Very boring. However, I think how exciting a tour is, with regards to Lance, has less to do with Lance and more to do with his competition- they either show up or they don't. This year's been pretty good, I think- a few times now, Lance has been left team-less pretty early on in a couple mountain stages, and had to fight alone.
As far as playing it safe/no stage wins, I think he just has his mind on the big picture: #7. It is his last professional race, and he doesn't want to screw up his legacy by going for a stage win, going too hard, and then paying for it the next day...for example, if he decides to take a stage one day, and works really hard at it, the next day he could pay buy losing time to Basso- only 2:38 back. And Basso can time trial this year. With that final individual time trial, and Basso riding so well in time trials this year, Lance isn't going to risk it. (Ullrich, while a good TTist, can't make up over 4 minutes in a TT).
I was really rooting for Axl Mercx last night- too bad he couldn't pull it off.