Check out Lance’s left lever. Did he go sans front derailleur today? 
http://www.velonews.com/tour2005/tech/articles/8485.0.html
Lance’s downtube shfter
Dear Lennard,
Lance’s bike had one STI shifter and a downtube shifter for the front derailleur. Is there a performance advantage in this setup?
Tom
Dear Lennard,
After looking through photos of Lance Armstrong riding his bike, I can’t help but notice the small shifter-like lever on the left side of his bike. And I doubt he still uses downtube shifters. Do you know what this lever is? I saw on a bicycle before one of these that activated a switch for a hub generator on a light. And I also doubt Lance has some light hidden away.
Ian
Dear Ian and Tom,
In all of Armstrong’s Tours since 1999, he has used a standard (non-integrated) left brake lever and a downtube shift lever for the front derailleur on mountain stages. Given that a standard Dura-Ace, non-integrated brake lever weighs 130 grams and a Dura-Ace 10-speed STI lever weighs 210 grams, you are looking at a simple weight savings. The downtube shift lever can add as little as 30 grams, plus you save a bunch of grams in extra cable and housing you don’t need looping around the front of the bike. You don’t shift the front derailleur often on a mountain - once at the bottom and once at the top - so there is not much efficiency lost. So you can give up looking for a hidden light on his bike, Ian.
Lennard
Interesting. You can see it better on this picture. 
He uses a tube mounted shifter to keep himself from accidently down shifting while pumping up out of the saddle. That’s a killer when you dump the large chainring. Shifting one down on the rear is recoverable, the front can cost you the race.
He spins while sitting and he may be in his 39, but amazingly he stands up and “dances” up hills in his big chainring.
Good explanaition.
Today and for the past 7 years…
Try this one. You can’t see the downtube shifter but can see there are two chainrings. (Talk about chickenlegs…he needs to ride more. I thought tall socks were out of style?)
Michael
I really kind of miss my down-tube shifters. I like my bar-end shifters for triathlon but I’m not sold on STI on my road bike. Down-tube shifters are light, clean looking and idiot-proof. I may ditch the STIs on my Serotta.
"I really kind of miss my down-tube shifters. "
Oh man, how dinosaur. That’s like saying you miss wool jerseys and 36 spoke wheels. 
I don’t miss my down tube shifters one single bit.
I ride downtube shifter on my road bike. Works fine for me !
I do a lot of riding on single speeds, maybe that makes any multi geared bike seem like a technological marvel. I did recently purchase a (Merino) wool-blend jersey. Now, if I can remember where I put those toe-clips…
Downtube shifter are good, if you aren’t in a sprint or standing and climbing. STI’s make things easier.
By the way Lance has the one downtube shifter to save weight by not running it to the handlebar since he rarely shifts that on a climb.