Whilst the tar was melting, sun irradiating the riders and the race hotted up, revenge was on the mind of several riders.
I attacked first and he beat me for the gold medal in Beijing. This is revenge.
So said Andy Schleck after beating Samuel Sanchez for the stage win. Also when several riders hit the deck during Stage 3, on the roads to to Spa, the Euskatel team radio crackled with orders to keep riding in order to distance the Schlecks. The Basque riders though ignored the team orders. But no doubt Riis will savour Andy Schleck’s win even more.
Andy Schleck wasn’t the only one enjoying the chance to stick it to his rivals:
I’d almost sat up, but when I head that Lance Armstrong had been dropped, I decided to get back to the front of the group with my team mates.
That’s Aleksandr Vinokourov, explaining how Armstrong’s demise was the motivation needed to start deploying the troops.
I kind of wonder if perhaps Astana focused too much on Armstrong and rode their guys off the front too quickly. On RAI they were reporting Contador as saying he had not ridden as well as he could have, tactically.