Don't know if this is a well known story, but I just heard of it today
reading Cycling News' live report.
11:56 CEST
Christophe Moreau (AG2R) is the first to attack, haring off up the road
and into the darkness of the first tunnel. Maybe he'll pull over in
there and hide, causing all sorts of chaos when the chasers try to work
out where he has gone.
11:59 CEST
That has actually happened in the past...can't remember the rider, but
someone attacked and then hid with the goal of nipping onto the back of
the bunch and enjoying the chaos. However he misjudged the effect of
his attack and had himself a very hard chase, trying to latch back on
to the peloton...
13:06 CEST
Roger de Vlaeminck tells a classic cycling joke: "One time, during a
Tour de Lombardie' we hid behind a railway verge. We had someone tell
Merckx we escaped. So, he chased us like mad, while we were at the back
of the bunch. He went so fast, we nearly got dropped. When we got back
on, we came up to him saying: "Hey man, are you nuts? Is there a fire?"
Merckx was a very serious guy. He was not amused!