It's called a bloody bicycle race, the key word here is race.

So conspiracy or cock up? Evil master plan or happy coincidence? Great tactics or rank stupidity? Half a team riding for you and half against you? Half a team riding for you and all the Spaniards against you?
Still, that Cav eh?
Lets go and ride a bike race, lets go and ride a bike race in high cross winds and oh, look, the peloton splits and every body forms echelons, well that is unless you ride in the UK and no one can form an echelon and the roads are tight so basically each echelon is three riders wide, sorry about that. So then, you expect splits in a bike race, you expect well organised teams to take the chance that's plated up for them, wouldn't you? Columbia were at the front getting in position to launch the guided missile to it's chosen target, so when it gets a bit tasty, well, when it gets tasty it's party time.

What's more entertaining is the conspiracy that is Astana, Lancey boy and a couple of his chums were close up to the edge of the action and after sitting in decided to do a little graft. Meanwhile AC (that's Alberto Contador not AC from operation puerto) sat on his arse and did nothing and just to show willing so did the rest of the peloton.
And the gap opens and there you go. From a team perspective Astana come out of it well the rider they had in 10th moves up and from any normal team that would be enough. But of course Astana and normal do not sit well in a sentence, unless the sentence is 'That Astana, not really a normal team is it.'
This is of course why the tours from the last couple of years have been 'boring'. Nothing to do with the racing, that's been exciting enough, riveting even. No, what's been boring is the lack of conspiracy theories, the lack of teams turning in on them selves and ripping each other to shreds, the lack of TV speculation over secret peloton gangs taking each other on in the mountains, the lack of national allegiances taking precedence over team allegiances. In short what's been 'boring' is the lack of infighting, team v team is getting a bit dull, what we need is a real blood bath and this year it looks like it could be on the cards.

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