Tour de France 2009

Alternatively, he could have noticed that his breakaway companions were tiring and felt he had more chance of success riding alone. He was caught in the final 1.5 kms which would suggest that he was right to go it alone, given that Chavanel and Auge were caught with around 25 kms to go.

Also, what point are you trying to make with your last sentence? Most of the teams riding at the front today, namely Cervelo, Rabobank, Milram, Columbia and Caisse d'Epargne were doing so in an attempt to set up their sprinters for the win, not on gaining time.

Fair enough, but I just felt making a break with 30km to go was perhaps a little ambitious.

The second part was more about different strategies depending on the type of race. If you're riding a one-day classic then you can always risk making a break and riding alone for all that time - you don't have to save your energy for the next day and can just go all out for glory. In a stage race it's going to be different - you can't afford to give a single rider a 40-50 second advantage. Yes, everyone's going to want to take the stage, but you've also closed down the gap and you'll also finish at the same time, meaning there's not going to be a huge shake-up in the GC.

But anyway - I'm totally stoked for Hushovd. I'm a big fan of the CTT. He was proper filthy...