surak

There were 2 bunch sprints before Merlier bowed out that AF wasted thinking they could spread the wins Oprah-style ("you get a stage win, and you get a stage win, and you get a stage win!"). They also wasted their advantage of not needing him to save energy for a full campaign, which MvdP showed could be quite a significant one. I don't think it was ever in the cards for Merlier to slog up many climbs, but if in the unlikeliest of cases they expected him to reach Paris, it wouldn't have made any sense to have him burn his matches on lead-out duty. Cav was able to reach Paris in green through a total teamwide commitment to helping him conserve his energy, carrying everything for him up the mountains, hydrating and feeding him, and making it so all he had to think about was pedaling to make the time cut. Contrast to that, Jakobsen was hung out to dry and do his own work before the Vuelta had even hit the big mountains.