Could be a fake-out, too. Remember about three years ago Lance was riding like he could barely stay upright, then he shredded the field.
Yeah, I know- I remember that- I'm not buying it today, though. LA looked pretty vulnerable to me today (of course, he did that day, too, so what do I know?) The end result is that the other teams think he is attackable anyway, whether he is or not. They will all be after him tomorrow.
Seems a little risky to leave Lance all alone..one flat tire could've cost him bigtime. I think it was just the (relatively) low gradient; the field was able to hang with the quick pace longer than usual. Doubt that'll be the case when the real climbing begins, and I suspect that's when Discovery will assert their dominance.
That said, I could see where Beltran and Azevedo may have been told to take the day off, on the assumption that someone else could hang with Lance. Or, maybe the team got some bad food - that would explain the weak effort by everyone.