The whole point of putting someone in it is that they can sit on the back, and demoralize the people who are pulling. In George’s case, there was the added advantage that he might get caught by the Big Boys, in which case he might be able to get Lance a water bottle before he exploded.

Either way, it doesn’t make sense for George to waste his energy pulling other riders away from his team leader.

I used to get furious that USPS refused to put men in breaks. Instead of covering them with one man, who might even get a stage win, they would have their whole fucking team towing the peleton all day long.

In the 2001 edition of Amstel Gold, Erik Dekker and Lance Armstrong rode away from the field on the final climb (this was back before the race finished on the Cauberg, so the final sprint was relatively flat.). Dekker continued to pull through, even over the objections of his DS Theo De Rooy, who drove the team car illegally up to the two riders and began shouting at Dekker to sit on. Dekker still won, and avoided looking like a jerk as well as dodging the wrath of the most influential rider in pro cycling.

Also “putting a man in the break” is not such a simple thing, otherwise every team would have a rider in every break. USPS, though not as aggressive as, say, CSC or Euskatel (or as aggresive as Euskatel used ot be), has definately attempted to put riders in the break in the past.