Postal strategy at the base of Alpe D'Huez

Below is a quote from a bicycling.com article on the signing of Beltran. It seems to indicate that
Carmichael and Armstrong decided that the 2001-style massive attck at the base of Alpe D'Huez was a
bad idea. Yet they seem to have tried to do exactly the same thing this on Sunday -- of course,
Beltran went a little too fast, but noone on the team denied that the intent was to have the team
set a fast pace and blow everyone out the back, just like Rubiera did in 2001.

In fact, i think what Carmichael says about time gains on Ullrich below is false: there is some
analysis of the splits from 2001 posted in this newsgroup, showing that everywhere the road got
steeper Armstrong gained time, inlcuding about 20" from switchbacks 4 to 1 near the top. This in
turn probably means Ullrich has trouble on the steeper sections -- no surprise since he is a big guy
who grinds a huge gear.

I suspect that Ullrich was the main focus of Postal's strategy on Sunday, and they decided he was
most likely to be shed on the steep sections at the base of the climb. So they went ahead and did
the same thing they did in 2001 despite the fact that they knew it was not ideal for Armstrong.
Comments? --Shayana Kadidal

<<in the past Tours, Postal has made a mockery of attacks on the mountain stages. They treat the
finishing climb of a race like a sprint finish, with first one and then another of Armstrong's
talented support climbers making pace. One peels off and another takes his place.

The reason for this, says Armstrong's longtime coach Chris Carmichael, is due to some mid-race
analysis he did with Lance in 2001.

"We downloaded his HRM after the Alpe d'Huez stage," Carmichael told me, talking about the
infamous--The Look--attack. "He attacked on the lower part of the climb--the steepest part, and
immediately put two minutes into everyone in like five kilometers. But he didn't gain more than
that; he just held them off on the latter part."

Carmichael said the telling detail was in the heart rate data. "You could see that his heart rate
spiked during the attack and then leveled off at damn near max for the rest of the climb. What that
told me was, economy of effort. He was making his biggest gains in the initial attack, so we shifted
the attacks. Later in the race, he'd wait until the last 5 or 10 kilometers, about 15 minutes away,
so that he could gain the maximum amount of time with the least effort."

"Shayana Kadidal" <dershanek@aol.com> wrote in message
> This in turn probably means Ullrich has trouble on the steeper sections -- no surprise since he is
> a big guy who grinds a huge gear.
>

How big is he?

"Carl Sundquist" <carlsun@cox-internet.com> wrote in message
news:vh6jgbtm452g19@corp.supernews.com...
>
> "Shayana Kadidal" <dershanek@aol.com> wrote in message
> > This in turn probably means Ullrich has trouble on the steeper sections -- no surprise since he
> > is a big guy who grinds a huge gear.
> >
>
> How big is he?

About 184 cm. Close to 6'1". I have no idea how much he weighs these days.