yep, I should have been less ambiguous, and said "relatively better".
But the gunning on the flat can hurt Evans team.
It also might prompt any jour sans. The intensity on the flat more likely to elicit the bonk or jour sans.
However, Evans seems stronger than his competitors in terms of consistency and robustness. I would slow the pace, and break it open on the bottom slopes. After all the bottom 5km on l'Alpe d'Huez is the steepest.
I think 2003, Triki Beltran may have won the Tour for Armstrong with his poor comprehension of English. Ullrich had his best year courtesy of the blood bags from Fuentes, but he was sick in the first week. When Triki thought his mtn leadout began, he just unleashed an enormous attack which put all the USPS riders in the red, Armstrong asking him to slow, but Ullrich was dropped.
CSC should use this tactic. Keep all their riders, slow the pace, and bring Cancellara, Gustov and Voigt to the bottom, and gun it, and then let Andy Schleck light up the bottom third after those guys pull for 500 metres each before blowing up.