WHy does it seem that he (Lance) gave the stage to one of the guys that helped him put tons of time into everyone else, only 2 guys stayed with him…he let them have it, he took 2nd.
every year he gives the only guy that can stay with him a gift.
ullrich 3 or 4 years ago, pantani 5 years ago i think, basso last year, and Vanverde today…the guy is AWESOME. Always helping out the ones that help him sort of.
Did not one of the past greats say “no more gifts”?
Why put in the extra effort in the last meters to get a stage win when it could hinder his recovery for tomorrow’s monster stage over 3 huge mountains?
Did he really give it away? From the text description at velonews it sounds like he attacked at one kilometer to go to try to win and Valverde just followed and outsprinted him.
That was no gift. Lance would have gladly dropped Valverde if he could have. He couldn’t. No shame in that, Valverde had a teammate working for him all the way up. But Lance did not “let” Valverde win, and I’m sure his post stage comments will bear that out.
Lance busted his ass from way out in the final “sprint.” Valverde, a known quality sprinter(not quite Petacchi, but a lot better then Lance) sat on his wheel until very late and took the win. Lance didn’t have the legs to beat him. That’s part of the reason Lance went from so far out, trying to break him before the last 100m.
His post race comments already do, stating that we’ve seen “cycling’s future” in Valverde. He did not “gift” the stage win, but it has most certainly been his M.O not to contest many of them over the years, keeping his eyes on the prize.
What you say is true in general, however in this specific case, LA tried to drop Valverde, and couldn’t. Again Valverde had Mancebo with him to the very end, and as noted is a better sprinter than LA in any event, but LA tried to take this one and didn’t. As you say, he did achieve his main objective- putting time into his major rivals.
Armstrong’s efforts to dispose of his rivals for the overall appeared to damage his chances for the stage win - Valverde was hanging on his back wheel, and easily overtook the American in the final 50 meters to claim his first-ever stage victory on the race.
Armstrong admitted he had been surprised to see Valverde overtake him after their duel to the finish.
“It’s a surprise for me. I was hoping for the stage win, but I think today we may have seen the future of cycling. He’s strong, intelligent and he’s fast. Very impressive.”
Awesome comments…I thinks that Lance is just soooooooooooooooooo smart that he gains almost alies in other teams in certain cases. Like not wanting to wear yellow after the crash and he has waited for Ullrich on crashes in the past.
He gifted it…sure would he have taken it if he made a gap? Sure…but he didnt…and he did not give 1000% to take it in the end…he could have. Had it been for GC, he would have.
hmm…hard to say… saw it on TV and he sat up. Maybe he would have won the sprint, maybe he wouldn’t have…but he didn’t appear to try for the sprint…there was no wheel throwing…he stopped pedaling hard well before the line. I’m guessing he knew he was better off saving that kind of sprint energy for tomorrow’s race.
If Lance wanted that stage, he would have taken it…LONG before the 1km mark. As mentioned, it’s not his goal. Look to see where Valverde is in a few days. Since he duked it out (at LA’s pace, btw) LA didn’t need to show him dominance.
I wouldn’t exactly call it a gift, but rather the right thing to do as pointed out by trymedad’s “le patron” comment. There’s 100 years of history with this sort of move.
If you watched the broadcast, it’s pretty clear who the strongest rider is…