spare cycles

Pre-stage tactics

The tactics for this stage began on stage 9, when Armstrong announced (I paraphrase), "Please take my yellow jersey." There are two parts to this tactic. The first is to announce that if a breakaway with a non-contender gets away, you're team is not going to waste effort chasing it down. Stage 9 was a warmup stage and Armstrong wanted to make sure his teammates had plenty of energy for the coming stages. The second part of the strategy is to use the yellow jersey as a "Tag You're It" gesture. The merit of this tactic is debatable -- Armstrong's opponents are so used to seeing him in yellow they might now have known the difference -- but perhaps Armstrong hoped that the recipient of the jersey would feel the difference, especially as the recipient in this case is on the same team, CSC, as one of his top opponents, Ivan Basso. However, CSC's director Bjarne Riis knows he has too good of a rider in Basso to really care what color jersey Voigt is wearing, even if the publicity was good for his team.

Stage 10 tactics

Come race day, the other teams didn't seem to take the yellow jersey tactic seriously. Julich of CSC was asked whether or not they'd defend the jersey, which he answered with a terse, "No." Out on the road it was Team Discovery dictating the pace of the peloton, while the other teams did their best to save up energy for the latter parts of the stage. Jens Voigt did seem to try harder to stay with the main group, falling off the back then pulling himself back in whenever the slope decreased, but as he was designated waterboy for the day, his efforts did not matter much to Armstrong. Perhaps if Armstrong was able to get the jersey into the hands of a different team the tactic would have been more effective.

The first climb (Courmet de Roselend)

The first major climb, the Courmet de Roselend, is a bit too far from the finish to expect any of the major contenders to attack. There's simply too much road to have to stay ahead and not be pulled back.

With that in mind, some minor breakaways went away, but Discovery was content to let them get a bit out front. They did the pace-setting for the peloton, but not much more. Near the end of the climb, Oscar Pereiro and Jorg Jaksche went on a breakaway that would soon change the tempo of the race.

The valley (Roselend - Courchevel)

Pereiro and Jaksche rode well enough to catch the lead breakaway. While neither was a true overall threat, but Team Discovery decided that this was enough to start picking up the pace. Bruyneel (team director) sent the biggers guys (Padrnos, Noval) up to the front to start putting down the hammer and it was a long train of blue Discovery riders at the front of the peloton as they raced towards the start of the final climb. They quickly started reeling in the breakaway riders. The rapid pace which they set sent a message: Armstrong was looking for more than just limiting Pereiro's gains; when you burn that much energy on your team you've gotta get something for it. Furthermore, Armstrong had his entire team with him, and they were riding strong. That's a strong tactical position that he would want to take advantage of.

update: according to Armstrong's trainer Carmichael, they were not planning to attack just yet. That would develop later...

Final Climb (Courchevel)

The final climb was where Armstrong's tactics unfolded. Padrnos and Noval were used up getting to the climb, and they peeled off. Rubiera and Savoldelli did their pulls on the start of the climb, immediately thinning out the peloton behind them. Among the major riders, Menchov, Heras, and Beloki were quickly off the back.

CSC tried to counter Discovery's move by sending Sastre up front. Sastre was high enough placed that a successful attack could put him in the yellow jersey. CSC's hope was either (a) Discovery would break apart trying to chase down Sastre or (b) they let Sastre go and they get to keep the yellow jersey for another day. The problem with this tactic was that Sastre wasn't strong enough. His attack was a misfire from the start, never getting out of sight of the charging Discovery train. Sastre was gobbled up and next seen falling off the back of the group.

Hincapie then starting putting his pull in at the front. Azevedo was also there, but apparently he called an 'audible' and switched efforts with Hincapie; Azevedo was perhaps the only Discovery not having a good day. Discovery was down to four riders (Hincapie, Azevedo, Popovych, and Armstrong), but the five teammates they had used up had given them good results: Moreau (whom I and others thougt would get the yellow jersey today), Karpets, Julich, Botero, and Vinokourov were all put into trouble. Asked about Armstrong at the end of the race, Vino said, "He looked strong when I last saw him. Now let me go."

update: according to Armstrong's trainer Carmichael, Vino's weakness was the key to the attack plan. Once Bruyneel saw Vino weakening on the climb, he told Discovery to go for it all the way.

The final pacemaking was set by Popovych, who still had dirt on him from a crash earlier in the race. Popo's turn at the wheel was the decisive one. Armstrong moved next to Popo and asked him to accelerate, which he did, so fast in fact that Armstrong later remarked that it was a "sprint." This acceleration knocked off Landis, Ullrich, and Kloden.

Popovych was used up with that last bit of acceleration, but it was a job well done. The only rider that he couldn't eliminate with that sprint was Basso, who was tagging along in the small group of riders still with Armstrong. Basso didn't look nearly as good as he did when he last stuck on Armstrong's wheel, and Armstrong probably knew it.

Armstrong kicked up the pace up the climb, knowing that Ullrich had been dropped and that he could get big time on his main rival, along with just about everyone else in the race. Basso wouldn't budge. Armstrong moved to the back, stretched his back a bit while others set the pace, and then did another acceleration at the front that finally knocked Basso off the back.

This left Armstrong with a good group: Mancebo, Valverde, and Rasmussen. All were riding high in the overall standings, but none were a true threat. Mancebo and Valverde are on the same team, which would make things difficult for a stage win, but the most important task for Armstrong making sure that he gained big time on the stage.

Armstrong started talking to all the riders in his group, encouraging them to take pulls at the front to help out. He noted that they were all high in the overall, and if they wanted to finish on the podium in Paris, they needed to gain big time on the people behind. In other words, he told them to race for second and third in the overall, but give up on first place because he had that in the bag.

"I was trying to get everybody to keep riding because I heard the time gaps between Jan and certain other guys, Ivan, and anybody who is in the front of this climb today has to be considered a contender for the overall victory or a contender for the podium or a contender for whatever they want to contend for, so it's of their interest to ride as hard as they can�to put as much time into Jan Ullrich as possible because he's going to catch them in the Pyrenees and he's going to catch them in the final time trial�I was trying everything. I used all the best BS I had to get them to ride.

The BS seemed to work. Although Armstrong was still putting in a big effort, Mancebo and Valverde put in some effort at the front, and Rasmussen put in a little bit of effort as well.

The Finish

Whenever you have two riders on the same team in a breakaway, especially in a breakaway of four, you have a big advantage. It seemed to me, at least, that Mancebo put in the bigger chunk of effort so that his teammate Valverde could conserve energy. Mancebo had nearly been dropped, so he probably knew he didn't have it in him to take the stage.

Armstrong didn't have to worry about Rasmussen too much. Rasmussen until a couple years ago was a mountain biker (a World Champion mountain biker), so tactically he could probably outdo him.

Rasmussen attacked way too early in the final kilometer and was quickly caught by the other riders. Armstrong then attacked closer to the finish, but he couldn't drop Valverde. Armstrong looked back, saw Valverde there, and knew that the game was up. Valverde sprinted around Armstrong and took the stage win.