Bloggin' Idaho Style... And a Recap of The Tour Today

So, I'm in Boise today. We drove over for the weekend to visit the in-laws. My kids love grandma and grandpa, and this was a good time to go out... other than missing Tour updates and hilights, we're taking the weekend easy. I will try to get out and ride. I remember the shoes this time, so I plan on a couple of rides.
The drive out is long, about five hours. Five hours of long, hot driving. I got AC, sure, but it still sucks to cross the desert. Some people think that there is a beauty in the simplicity, but I find it a boring and featureless chore to drive.

Anyways... The Tour. I went to Thump, a coffee house in downtown to watch the race. I don't have cable, or I would just roll out of bed and watch it wearing the jammies. The place was packed, there was standing room only. That is total Lance Effect, because last year, it was just die hard roadies, and I bellied up to the bar for stages. Not today. I was lucky to have a booth with a partially obstructed view and very little volume. I could see what was going on, but I could barely hear it. Fortunately, I know the riders by face, and I don't need a scorecard to tell who's who and what's going on.
I arrived with about 40 miles to go in the race, and with the group of nine off the front. I had no idea how long they had been there, but I could tell right away that no one from Astana was there, and then the main group had Astana, Garmin and Saxo-Bank chasing. They were all strung out, the group snaking down the road as they were trying to bring it all back. The gap was around 12:00, and it seemed to stay there for about an hour that I saw.
I then found out they had been on the attack since about 20 clicks in. Maybe Astana was thinking that this would come back on it's own, that once they hit a decent climb, the lead would shrink. I don't know. But I really think it was idiotic to not have at least a Rubiera or a Zubeldia or a Popo in the group. Just when I think that Bruyneel is the Phil Jackson of Cycling, this happens.
So, Astana was in chase mode. On the Arcalis, the gap came down pretty fast. Ten, then eight, then five minutes. Pretty rapid closure, and I thought it was gonna be over soon. But the group seemed to dangle out there. The tempo being set by Astana seemed pretty mild, sure guys were getting the drop, but it was not a wholesale whittling of the group as I thought it would be. Popo was setting the initial tempo, and he seemed pretty comfortable.
I guess the idea was to have a strong enough tempo to shed a lot of guys, but not strong enough to drop a lot and to lull the others into thinking they can attack. Then Astana would counter, hopefully launching a small group of Lance and Contador with one or two others. But the expected counter attacks didn't come till too late.
When the needed counter came, it was Cadel Evans. But his attack was really weak, and it was closed in a hurry. The next attack was Cadel's domo, I forget his name, and that was a dump move... he got out there, dangled a bit, and then Contador just ripped past him.
This was about three clicks to go, and I could sense that Contador had enough of this and his acceleration was fierce. His gapped off everyone immediately, it was a huge gap. His ability to suddenly change tempo and to force the pace is why he will win the race.
My guy, Andy Schleck, tried to counter Contador, but it didn't work. Andy floated back to the group.
What was Astana thinking? I think they wanted to have that dude in the Yellow jersey. He's a total no-hoper, he won't win this race. But Astana doesn't want to protect the jersey until the next uphill finish of stage 15. They want another team to be caretaker of the jersey, so that they do all the work of chasing every little break and keeping the group together in the long, rolling intermediary stages before the Alps.
I guess this is a good strategy, and it plays in to the tried and true method of resting and preserving the guys till you really need them. I get that. But the thing is, Astana looked timid out there, they didn't look like the American League All Star Team out there (I was going to say the New York Yankees, but the fact of the matter is that the Astana team is made of nine guys who would be leaders in their own rights, and this team is as close to an all star team as you will ever see in cycling. Plus, I hate the Yankees)
Timid losses races, timid is not what you want to see with the Greatest Show on Pavement. We want to see Lance and Alberto going one-two to the summit of Arcalis... like LeMond and Hinault one-two at Alpe D'Huez. Maybe that happens in week three on The Ventoux, maybe not. But right now, the showdown in Andorra was a bit underwhelming.
I won't second guess Johan, he is a great DS.
What does tomorrow hold? Three rated climbs, but not HC's and it finishes 40 K from the last summit. I don't expect a big shaking out at all, and I think that the top ten will look the same.