Tour de France – The Leadership Game

Who wants to be the leader?  In a very interesting tactical move, Phonak, led by Floyd Landis, has decided not to wear the leader’s maillot jaune in the run up to the Alps stages this week.  Only time will tell if this is a good strategy.  It seems to be a good move from my vantage point.

First, my sense is this year’s tour pace is quite slow compared to other years, signalling that many teams in the peloton are not willing to be the leaders and do the hard work of leading out the pack, enduring the additional energy-drain that goes with driving the peloton.

Second, this move gives someone other than Phonak the incentive to lead (and hence burn energy) and should give Phonak the ability to stay in the pack without having to lead every mile of the last week of the race.  Clearly, this is a different strategy that Team Discovery Channel with Lance Armstrong, George Hincapie and the other team members of years gone by.  After a day off on Monday, Tuesday will be the telling day.