I'm with you on this Tom. I love the TTT. It is always one of stages that I look forward to most. The team work involved and watching all those guys on the rivet is exciting.

I think all they had to do to avoid what happened to David Z. last year was to put the stage a little later in the Tour as opposed to so early. That way there is less of a chance for the person in the Yellow jersey to lose it as that person will be more (assumption) established in the lead. So say Basso has the lead going into the TTT with a a few stages still to go he is less likely to lose much of/or any time to Jan as there is a limit on how much a team can lose, especially since it will usually be pretty close between T-Mob and CSC. Also, if it is later in the race David Z. wouldn't have the Yellow jersey, Basso would (obviously using CSC as an example).