BikeCentric said:Because he's old and getting older. "Time waits for no man."
Edit: Poulidor was still competitive at 40 though not as good as he was when younger. I don't think even WonderLance is immune to the effects of time and he certainly didn't look to me to be anything close to the Lance of 2002 in 2009.
True, he wasn't what he was before. But we were looking at him after a break of 3 seasons. 3 years of accumulated aging were visible to us all at once rather then seeing a slow but steady faltering.
Next year (like Basso) I expect a slight increase in performance due to simple race time. After long time off, I think any rider... Vino, Rasmussen, Basso or Armstrong... would need a full season to be completely back in the groove. With Lance that would likely be offset with a decrease in performance due to age... but I'd think the result would more likely be to break even in terms of performance rather then lose ground.