Not a Contador fan at all, but I wasn’t happy to see him out completely. I confess to finding Nibali rather dull.
It will be interesting to see what the teams do. I bet there are a lot of people blown away by how things are changed up so early on. Who takes over for who? Who steps up and makes a name for themselves now?
Did you see Horner’s reaction on being told Contadore was out for good? He was talking about how he might be 10 minutes back or more when the interviewer said “he’s dropped out” and Horner’s expression was like “whaaaaa...t?
I don’t like Contador, and I admit I was pleased he dropped out. That is a sin I will have to confess. The good thing is that the race for the podium is wide open, with about a dozen riders still in the hunt. As for the overall win, it is now Nibali’s to lose. He looks firmly in control, but we’ve seen that anything can happen.
There is one interesting side story to all this confusion. It might open the door for some young guns who came to carry water. Tejay is still a threat, as is Val Verde, but other teams might have newer riders capable of giving it a go who the boss could let loose. I'd enjoy some of that. it would be fun to see a break with four or five no names going at it until someone in the peloton realizes they have 7 or 8 minutes and it could upset the apple cart. Things like that used to happen no and then when TV and wireless communications weren't so common.