The stage came down to two stories:

The first story was that of the breakaway. Nine riders got away and distanced themselves from the fracturing peleton. One of those riders, 24 year old tall Frenchman Brice Feilieu, held on to win the first Tour de France stage of his promising career. his older brother, the (currently) more well known Roman Feilieu, finished in the grupetto and was obviously elated about the victory of his teammate and brother.

The second story played out slightly further down the slip. This was the story of the GC contenders, including half of the Astana team. Cadel Evans tried several times to attack, but he doesn’t have the explosive power necessary to make a break stick, and the contenders were able to cover him each time.

Eventually, Contador got sick of the games and busted everyone’s groove up. He attacked with a few K to go and put about half a minute into the rest of the GC contenders by the time all was said and done. His move was strong, quick and decisive, and it had to have demoralized all of the other contenders.

Armstrong chose not to respond to Contador’s attack, though he appeared like he could have at least attempted a response. He instead decided to mark the other GC contenders, knowing that if he did not follow Contador then the other GC contenders would not be able to follow either. This was, in my opinion, solid team tactics and shows that Armstrong is truly here in support of the best rider, Alberto Contador.

Now, perhaps Armstrong will attack Contador later in the Tour. We’ll see. That would be exciting if he does. However, on today’s stage, he made a tactical decision to maximize Contador’s advantage, and I believe that it was a good decision. Plus, if he decides to attack later in the tour, it will be tougher for the other GC men to overcome both him and Contador.

All in all, today’s stage creates more questions than it answers. However, one thing is for sure: Contador is ready to play. And so is Armstrong. And Cadel Evans is not.

Following them were a bunch of other riders, including Fabian Cancellara and Lance Armstrong. Noticeably absent from this group were most of the GC contenders, including Alberto Contador. Seems like a pretty “rookie” mistake for Contador to miss the group, but probably not a big deal in the overall picture.

Anyway, the group managed to stay ahead to the finish, thanks to some brilliant riding from the Columbia domestiques. Of course, Cav won the sprint (and phoned home as he crossed the line) in glorious fashion, bringing his 2009 Tour de France victory percentage to 67%.

At the end of the day, Armstrong sits in THIRD place, 40 seconds back of Cancellara, and Contador is a few seconds down on Armstrong in 4th position. Will Astana work together in the time trial tomorrow? Or are the FOUR Astana leaders (Armstrong, Contador, Kloden, Leipheimer) too selfish to put in a good ride? I’m sure they’ll be professional and do their job, but you never know…

(Okay, I admit it. I’m excited that Lance is racing. I’m excited about the drama surrounding Team Astana. It’s just too good of a story not to get excited about!)