Reconsider that They have done this before to thier advantage
"Reconsider that They have done this before to thier advantage"
I could understand if they just left one or two minders and let the rest of the team take it easy, that would be smart. But leave no-one at all? Then, if Armstrong turns out to be having a bad day, or punctures, or falls on the descent, the potential help is back down the road.
No professional team would deliberately expose the leader in that way, there are just too many unexpected events that could crop up.
Here's some quotes from Armstrong on yesterday:
http://sport.guardian.co.uk/tourdefrance2005/story/0,16056,1525455,00.html
"We had a bit of a crisis in the team. We have to re-evaluate the position and try not to let it happen again. I can't remember the last time when there were 35 riders in front and none from our team.
'I asked them what happened and they had no explanation. I wasn't great and was definitely isolated and was definitely suffering.' He had no illusions about what this could mean for the rest of the Tour: 'If it's two more weeks of days like that we're in trouble, that's clear.'"
Of course, there's no reason at this stage to think that it was anything other than a bad day for the team. There's too much class and experience in that team for them not to regroup.