Donkey said:Bjarne Riis is the biggest loser of the day.
Dont blame, Bjarne. He (and Alberto) kept alive the hope until the last breath with an incredible weak team. It is a complete disaster that a guy like AC should ride with half of the team weakened from the Giro (and they didnt do anything there either). Navarro, Hernandez, Nova, CAS has been horrible.
Forget AC's condition: could this happen to Lance Armstrong during his golden years? The answer is: absolutely not.
First of all especially after the hard Giro Alberto needed at least one super-domestic: Heras, Rubiera, Landis, Klöden, Leipheimer....
then a few other riders in a great shape.
A few TT-guys, super-domestiques, who could be in a break, pull the wind, cut gaps. Saxobank has been nowhere.
Maybe of the same importance is not to allow Leopard's Monfort and Gerdeman break away off the peloton.
They should have riders with them, and if a unexpected attack like the one from Andy, a guy with the possibility to stay with him is at least expected.
It's the shame that AC - Johann Bruyneel cooperation is gone, not that Alberto didn't make any mistakes during TdF2009 but the american approach - Armstrong and 4 example Horner in an interview that can be found on youtube acted like idiots.
Disagree with you. How the AC-Bruyneel cooperation ended is one of the most embarrasing moments in cycling, even bigger then how the Indurain-Unzue relationship turned out. Bjarne is a man to beat in tactical wizardry, however something radical must happen in Saxobank, still recovering for the chain of events after La Vuelta which saw half of the team went to LT.