roundabout said:There's no winning strategy that doesn't involve Contador having problems. Even if Schleck attacks early there's very little chance of gaining additional 90 seconds over a fully fit Contador that he needs .
Last time Contador lost that much time in the mountains to any rider was when his team got an invite 1 week before a GT start.
Sorry, if i was rude in some way.
I agree that AC has to falter for Andy to win. But Andy has to attack to gain time (a lot of time) to win. That's why I think he may have to accept that AC may be the only one who can hang with him and then try to drop him later. Putting in multiple attacks is AC's thing, not Andy's who seems to like the one big wind up and go at a consistent (but high) pace. Like Basso and Cuddles at the Giro. Basso just rode consistently and ultimately dropped Cuddles. Andy could do the same thing with AC.
I think AC said something smart today, which is that he has to be more selective about which attacks he covers. I think he wasted energy going after the late attacks. Better to sit in and see who picks up the task. I don't think he will make that mistake again.