Gee333 said:Playing Devil's Advocate and armchair QB, do you think that AC would have had the confidence and the motivation to win all three GT's if Rasmussen hadn't been thrown out of the '07 Tour? Rasmussen had a pretty good hold on the yellow and if memory serves me correctly, AC wasn't gaining a whole lot of time on him and the Chicken was answering all his attacks up to that point. Winning the '07 Tour certainly lit a fire in AC and we know what happened after that.
Just some food for thought...
Yes. He was presented with some very unusual circumstances that allowed him to make the most of the situation. 2008 he still would not have been in the position to contest the Tour so doing the Giro and Vuelta were still likely. He still would have had the Giro and Vuelta wins in 2008 and the Tour win in 2009, giving him the same grand tour triumvirate in his palmares. He just would have lacked the 2007 Tour win but the 2nd step on the podium in your 2nd attempt is still impressive.