Let me repost what got buried very fast in the other thread:
I think it was an excellent move by Bertie at the time. I think it's wrong to argue based on the outcome, a piece of information which wasn't available for Bertie at the time of the attack.
Let's see what the situation was when Bertie decided to go:
1) Frank and Andy had been attacking since the lower parts of the previous climb. They were driving in the front for most of the two last climbs
2) Bertie and Kloden were following. I think neither had been doing a single pull at the front at that time
3) So far, Bertie had been able to ride away from Andy (and Frank) every single time he attacked in this TdF.
Based on these facts there was a very reasonable expectation that Bertie's attack would a) quite likely distance the Schleck brothers, in particular Frank who's considered the weaker one (and who certainly looked weaker the day before) and b) not necessarily drop Kloden who hadn't worked in the front during the entire day as far as I could see.
The second point is the weaker point since Kloden (despite JB blather about 4 leaders) was always the omega b!tch of the 4.** Kloden was never a leader of Astana. Both he and his teammates never considered him as anything else than a domestique. Who's going to ask for permission to attack from a domestique? If at all Bertie should have asked him how he felt and if he thought whether he could hang on to any kind of acceleration.
The last point I would like to make is that I'm fed up with team tactics dictated to the riders by their DS. We had a thread here a short while ago about it. If the result of radios is that we see fewer attacks, then get the f*ck rid of the radios already. When a rider feels good and wants to attack, I don't want no freaking DS to stop him from it. Racing has become duller over time anyway.
I enjoyed every bit of the stage. The fight between Pellizotti and Martinez, Thor's incredible chase for points, and the final two climbs including Sastre's, the Schlecks's and definitely Contador's attack. Now, get a tape of stage 9 and watch that. Then come here and criticize (with a straight face) a rider for attacking.
** Just look back at Arcalis and who drove up the Astana train. If anyone would like to find out where Kloden lost a few seconds, just look back at that stage and ask yourself why LL, as the objectively weakest of the Astana 4, didn't ride tempo for the other 3. Maybe Kloden wouldn't have lost seconds there. Alternatively, look at the Verbier stage and check who hauled someone's tired 38-year-old a$$ up the slopes.
end rant