Rivals

Does Lance remember what it is like to have a rival? It seems to me that he needs to remember the strategies he used to crush Jan Ullrich, year after year: isolate Jan from his team, rely on the Blue Train to hold back the peleton, use teammates as catapults, and wait until Jan burns out and then make a break of his own.

Having a much stronger Radioshack team, but working against a potentially more dangerous rival than Jan, Lance should remember his roots. When they hit the mountains, Lance needs to take Contador with him on break after break, and use his teammates to isolate Contador from his teammates. Take Popyvych with him, let Popyvych drive the three of them up until he pops, then Lance can take over. Do it again, and again, and again, and make intimidating comments at Contador the whole way up. Pretend to gas out, then burst, pretend to give up, then burst. When you are 13 years more experienced at life than someone else, it is really easy to outwit them.

Lance will not beat Contador by 13 seconds by eking them out, stage after stage, second by second, like he did 2004 and 2005. He needs to break Contador's spirit, and outfox him.

If this is really Lance's last Tour, then why hold back anything?


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