Astana tactics... a thought

As soon as I read the first thread, thought the same thing...Bruyneel is going for a top 3 or 4.  Sweep the podium + one.

Astana are in an incredible position.  When it comes to the mountains Lance and Contador will both be marked men and if they attack they will be chased down for certain.  But what if Levi or Kloden go on the attack?  Other teams can't let them get too far up the road but chasing them down will use up a lot of energy, which will then be exploited by Lance and/or Contador.

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I gotta say a sweep has never been done.  I mean Hinault and Lemond were a rarity.  That'd be a good question to send to Phil Liggett during tomorrow's stage. 

Levi has done too much this year already.  The other three have built up their racing systematically to peak for the Tour.  Levi will be lucky if he can even stay in the same time zome on the last hills of the mountain stages.

Agreed. I think Levi will be setting tempo early on in the mountain stages with Popo taking over later. He just does not have that extra gear the others have to stand up and really acceralate. What I think would be interesting is when you have LA, Contador, Kloden and a few others with 10k left on one of the mountain stages. Is one going to attack the others or hope that someone else attacks and breaks them up?

It may not be a particularly welcome theory to the Americans on this board but I think that Astana has Alberto as the Leader and the rivalry between them is only imagined by the rest of the world. Everyone is focussing on Lance and Alberto is just going about his business without all the attention that would weigh heavily on anyone else - anyone but Lance.
This situation is strikingly similar to the CSC team tactics of last year. Was Sastre even considered before Alpe D'Huez? All the talk was about Frank and Andy Schleck. I think the same situation is true here. I think that Lance will take the pressure of media committments and general expectation while Alberto does what he does best. Lance will be in Yellow before long and the longer he wears it the more everyone will focus on him.
Alberto will pounce, maybe not until Mount Ventoux - but he will pounce.

The result of the TTT last night was achieved by a harmonious team and I don't think that there is any real rivalry there.

I think that Lance is big enough and mature enough to secure a win for the team first and foremost.

Tomorrows stage should give a good indication of Astana’s stategy. I think Johan is definitely thinking about sweeping the podium. I am certainly not an experienced tactician when it comes to bike racing. But, if it were me, I would ride the Pyrenees with my big engines setting a blistering tempo to discourage attacks and not attack each other. I would try to decimate the remaining GC hopefuls before they reach the alps and then let Lance, Contador, Kloden, and Levi sort it out there and on the final TT.

Either way, it is stacking up to be a great Tour.