old man 1, FDQ 0.....
again in stage 4: team Forum Drama Queens get taken down by the old man and his Astana team. ;-)
on my TV, LA was pulling a lot in the middle sections and AC/Kloden was looking particularly strong at the end. With about 1km to go, LA took the lead out and I was thinking - "WTF, is he really going to try to pull all the way to the finish?"; Obviously he couldn't and AC came on like a freight train - it seemed LA maybe over-cooked at that point.
as to LA and AC not respecting each other - Tweet from LA: "And they might need to repair the pavement on the sections where Alberto was pulling. All in all, great day."
One article even had AC wishing they could have put LA in yellow....that he knew how much it meant to him:
http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/article/94656/contador-more-than-happy-with-ttt-result
...and then listen to his press conference. LA is going to try is legs off, but he also realizes the tick-tock of time and how hard it is. He even said he was wrong and disrespected Sastre and VdV.
Mortality is tough for a champion....at least he will lay it out on the road. If AC beats him on the road, LA will be just fine with that, but don't expect him to just soft pedal. PLus, I think LA thinks AC has some things to learn...yesterday showed that. Races aren't always won by the fastest.