WTF?

Did that just happen today?

Did Lance Armstrong get into a break with Cancellara and half of team Columbia and two thirds of Garmin/Slipstream just 25km from the end of today's flat-ish stage, and surge past Contador on the G.C.? Is Lance now the highest positioned G.C. threat, by 10 or 20 seconds?

Why yes, it did happen today. And while it's extremely early in the race, Lance is nicely positioned. And the rest of the peloton, by all accounts, is screamingly angry at Contador for refusing to work hard to chase his teammate Armstrong when the headwinds gusted up, and upset at Saxo Bank for shuttin' 'er down and refusing to chase yellow jersey holder Cancellara.

WTF?

Are Astana actually unified behind Lance and trying to generate The Most Epic Race Ever, by vaulting a 37 year-old who doesn't quite have the necessary legs, into the win? Did Lance maybe just stab Contador in the front when he went with an otherwise harmless break? Is this a huge marketing gambit for Livestrong, Johan Bruyneel and pro cycling? Did Columbia and Garmin/Slipstream, both stocked with North American riders and Friends of Lance, intentionally help Armstrong today in order to destroy Astana, or maybe because they know where their financial bread is buttered?

If Armstrong has even decent legs, this promises to be the most operatic TdF since LeMond/Hinault. The greatest of all operas, of course, is Wagner's Ring Cycle. Some afficionados and critics debate whether it's the winner of opera's Champion's League, favoring less epic opera, music and drama that don't wear on the listener like a steady blast from a firehose. But true fans know, the Ring is the greatest opera ever because it is the most impossible, ridiculous, insane, brutal, over-the-top piece of music ever made, coupled to a ridiculously implausible storyline that barely function as allegory, much less as real stories. It is on a scope that simply exceeds belief. It's four operas in one, spread out over four nights, with one night lasting nearly seven hours. It covers everything from creation, to the end of the world. There are dwarves and giants, love and betrayal. Swords and Valkyries. Everything.

We may be looking at the sporting version of the Ring Cycle this year in the Tour.

I had been a bit blase about this Tour. The Giro was superb and a fully satisfying piece of work, the quintessential Racer's Race, as it always is. Then all the usual scandals and pre-race announcements of dope test results had me feeling a bit lukewarm about the whole TdF deal. But I'm seeing a storyline developing that could really catch fire here - Lance and assorted Americans and Friends of Lance work together (surreptitiously) to get Lance a win. That would ensure another cycling and racing boomlet. We'd all be happy and making money...

But how did this little move up the G.C. happen for Armstrong? As Lance put it when discussing today's break,

"It wasn't that they didn't take advantage. It was just that they weren't there," said Armstrong. "When you see what the wind is doing and you have a turn coming up, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out you have to go to the front."

Lance just happened to be there with all of Columbia, led by his old Lieutenant Hincapie, Garmin / Slipstream, DS'ed by his old pal Vaughters, and Cancellara - but no other GC threats. Maybe it was just a twist of fate that Lance was in the right place at the right time with his old buddies, and none of his threatening teammates like Levi or Alberto - just the redoubtable Popo and his buddy, Haimar Zubeldia.

[Update: Garmin wasn't in the break.] [Note to self: lay off celebratory tequila/oxycontin cocktails.]

For his part, Cancellara knows he won't hold the maillot jaune very long, but he and Saxo Bank would undoubtedly rather put Sastre up against a weaker-than-before Lance along with demoralized domestique Contador, than have to face motivated Contador and grudging super domestique Lance.

Isn't that all just a totally remarkable coincidence how that happened today? It's the kind of coincidence you find... in an utterly implausible opera storyline.

I've observed that Lance's assault on Contador started in the pre-race interviews of the first real race of the season, La Primavera. He's like a pirhana, if a pirhana was smart enough and patient enough to play chess by mail while computing differential equations. I know now that Lance may talk a good game about being a soul racer, but he's actually in it to win it, and he is going to press his small advantage over Contador until he is once again the unquestioned king of the team, and captain of the peloton - or he'll die trying. No two ways about it. Love him or hate the guy - and I'm on the Manichean fence about his character and whether to 'like like' him - he's a magnificent SOB.

Brace yourselves. There's a good chance the next 18 days will be 6 hours of opera a day. The frickin' Ring Cycle.

Let's just call it the Chainring Cycle.

I like the sound of that.