On Sat, 02 Jul 2005 17:45:09 GMT, "Michael"
wrote:




Armstrong doesn't gain 6 seconds on a guy from check point one to
check point two and then lose 5 of them, and the win, without
something going on. Maybe he spent it all blowing by Ullrich. Maybe he
wanted another American to get a Yellow Jersey. Maybe he didn't want
to be put in the position of trying to wire to wire the race.

Winds, slipped pedal, increased humidity, blah blah...

It's doing a disservice to Zabriskie to indicate in any way that he
didn't earn or deserve this great win.

I don't know, but no matter what went on Zabriskie is really
establishing himself now. Vuelta, Giro and now TdF. Fantastic.

The big question is whether or not CSC will hold it through the TTT.

D

They will certainly try to defend the Mellow Johnny. It's difficult to believe
that Armstrong calculated that CSC would do the work for the first few
stages and so let Zabriskie win, but that's the effect.

m.



Well, Armstrong had all day (over 2 hours) knowing that CSC had it.
They could have come up with a plan that was contingent on how the top
GC rivals did.

Or maybe he just wanted to stay in sight of Jan to rub it in, lol.

D