Sandy wrote:

Unless a strong contender gets in the breaks over the next few, flat days,
there is no motivation for CSC to actively defend anything. Bunch finishes,
all the way to Germany. No time lost, no jersey strongly defended, no
imagination.

But that's the modern tour, yes ?

They have to ride on the front because (a) the team of the leader is
expected to and (b) they need to chase down or deter any breaks with
threats in them. Once a break of their liking is established, they
can slack off a little, but they still have to keep the gap small
enough that the sprinters' teams will finish it off in the last half
or third of the race. So they might not be working as much during
the part of the race that most people see on TV, but that doesn't
mean they get to coast.

Yes, things were so much better in the wool jersey days, when we
were young and beautiful (as Jobst says) but global warming means
we can't go back to wool jerseys in July ...