Boonen has also argued that Rujano and Garate took two spots from his regular lead-out train. Including one of his main lead-out men. I already made this observation before the Tour began that I was very surprised Guido Trenti was not on the team.
Other factors not mentioned by Boonen could be:
-- Quickstep team's fatigue from having defended several days of Boonen in yellow.
-- There are fewer sprinters' teams to help bring back breakaways on stages where the final sprint seems ideal for sprinters. That is because (i) Credit Agricole is not going to work as much, since Thor already has a stage win and knows Boonen wants a stage win more, (ii) Davi is not chasing as much as if they were not trying to podium with Cadel Evans (i.e., they are saving themselves in part to support Cadel as well as keep Robbie in green), (iii) Freire's team Rabo is also saving itself to help Menchov try to win GC, and (iv) Milram knows that Zabel's chances are not that great and had a bad experience in the Giro with other people using the Milram lead-out.