That's quite a statement. Until you get to the mountains the riders are dicing for seconds each stage. In the mountains riders can 'break' and give up huge chunks of time to the leaders. The fact that Lance is this close to the lead BEFORE the mountains has to be worrying to the peleton. OTOH, he is 37 and his chief rival in the mountains is also a teammate. Should be interesting.
That is, best for a day. Think marathon.
However, this race runs 21 days of enormous effort and physical breakdown. I wonder if an "old man" of 37 can keep it going in the final stages...he not supposed to be able to recover as well, or as fast, as his younger rivals.
If he does, no doubt one of the greatest sports feats EVER.
I think it is probably as much a statement about the strength of Astana as anything. Really who is going to be able to run down the guy they are protecting?