[sanjuro]

great day in the tour , but i don't get why george is pissed @ astana and slip stream . can someone please explain ?

Hincapie's logic is that since Slipstream (I didn't see Astana leading the pack, even though he claims they did) is that since they have nothing to protect, why chase him down?

But I have one bug about Hincapie. He is a great racer and one of America's best, but he is not very aggressive.

I didn't watch the entire race, but Hincapie took no long pulls in the last 20 kilometers.

He seem content to work with the group, no matter how dysfunctional it was.

 

[gonefirefightin]

victim in the words of Johan Bruyneel

Bummed, really bummed about George Hincapie not getting yellow. Won't elaborate on the strategies but what Garmin did was just BS. Sorry!

 

[GravityFreakTJ]

looks like George's own fault to me. The guy from the group that took the stage won by 16 seconds i believe. If George would have went when he did he would have yellow. Don't get me wrong, i like George but like sanjuro said, not aggressive enough

 

[sanjuro]

I first noticed this with 2003 Paris Roubaix. His teammate, Tom Boonen, a neophyte pro at the time, did all the work chasing down Musseuw (probably on orders by the team boss), and when Hincapie fell into a ditch, Boonen had nothing for the final sprint.

Compare it to Vinokourov. When he fell two seasons ago and had to fight to the finish towing 15 other riders, people fell in love with him.

If Hincapie was busting it, especially since next to the stage winner he had the most to gain, I would respect a lot more.

 

[dhmike]

thanks sanjuro !

 

[ire]

Hincapie disappoints again...what a shocker

 

[maddog17]

as much as it didn't make sense for Garmin to chase, GH didn't help himself out by not going with the break. he's got many years of racing experience and for him to not see that type of attack coming is just plain sloppy on his part. i like the guy, he's a perfect team guy. but you gotta take some blame yourself for missing that attack and not blaming another team for your mistake or expecting help from the main pack.

 

[Westy]

It's a ****ing race. No freebies. You want something you gotta take it. George needs some sand free chamois cream.

I had someone bitch at me because I lapped him for 'no reason' at an endurance race. I told him he should have ridden faster.

When in a bike race the answer to every question is Attack Mother ****er, Attack!

 

[Westy]

Someone needs to remind George that it was his teammate that was the first in the bunch across the line.

 

[GravityFreakTJ]

Someone needs to remind George that it was his teammate that was the first in the bunch across the line.

was first until they penalized him

 

[ire]

I had someone bitch at me because I lapped him for 'no reason' at an endurance race. I told him he should have ridden faster.

 

[sanjuro]

as much as it didn't make sense for Garmin to chase, GH didn't help himself out by not going with the break. he's got many years of racing experience and for him to not see that type of attack coming is just plain sloppy on his part. i like the guy, he's a perfect team guy. but you gotta take some blame yourself for missing that attack and not blaming another team for your mistake or expecting help from the main pack.

For one thing, why should Garmin help Hincapie? Because they like being second place in the bunch sprints?

Lance is defending his and Astana's actions. His twitter has it at "2 guys riding tempo".

 

[-dustin]

I got into cycling around 1999...and didn't really follow until last year.

What has Hincapie accomplished? Major wins?

 

[maddog17]

For one thing, why should Garmin help Hincapie? Because they like being second place in the bunch sprints?

Lance is defending his and Astana's actions. His twitter has it at "2 guys riding tempo".

Garmin didn't have to help, but they also didn't need to push to the finish either. it's not totally their fault, but they could have let up like astana did and let another team make the push if it was so important. but in the end, it was columbia pushing to set cavendish up for the sprint which was unnecessary. he could have just sucked on thor to the finish.

 

[GravityFreakTJ]

i think there might be some bad blood between garmin and high road due to some comments made by cavendish about garmin . what? cavendish running his mouth? i'm shocked

 

[GravityFreakTJ]

I got into cycling around 1999...and didn't really follow until last year.

What has Hincapie accomplished? Major wins?

here you go Dustin, sniped from wiki;


Hincapié is most widely known as a key domestique of Lance Armstrong, having been the only rider to assist Armstrong in all seven of his Tour de France victories. Hincapie was also a domestique for Alberto Contador during his 2007 Tour de France victory. Thus, he is the only rider to have raced on eight Tour-winning teams.[1] As of the end of the 2008 Tour, Hincapie has raced the Tour 13 times, finishing all but the first year

However, Hincapie does have several important wins of his own, starting with Gent-Wevelgem in 2001 and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne in 2005. Also in 2005, Hincapie took two stage wins at the Dauphiné Libéré and 2nd place at Paris-Roubaix. In 2005 he also had his first stage win in the Tour de France where, on July 17, he finished seven seconds ahead of Óscar Pereiro to win stage 15 from Lézat-sur-Lèze to Pla d'Adet. More recent victories include two stages at the Tour of California (2006), the overall and a stage at the Tour of Missouri (2007), and another stage win at the Dauphiné Libéré in 2008. He is a two-time US Professional Road Race champion (1998, 2006).

Throughout his career Hincapie has targeted the cobbled classics of April, specifically the week that begins with the Ronde van Vlaanderen, continues mid-week with Gent-Wevelgem, and ends with Paris-Roubaix. Since 2001 he has always been a threat to win, although only achieving the highest position on the podium with his 2001 victory in Gent-Wevelgem.

His many other top 10 placings include 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, and 10th in various Ronde van Vlaanderen; 3rd, 4th (twice), and 5th in Gent-Wevelgem in addition to his victory; and 2nd, 4th (twice), 6th (twice), 8th, and 9th in Paris-Roubaix. While using Three Days of De Panne as a warmup ride during the prior week, he has placed well in that race also, winning the overall in 2004 and placing third overall in 2002.

In recent years Hincapie has shown a talent for short individual time trials (ITTs), winning the prologue at the 2005 Dauphiné Libéré, placing second three times and third once in prologues in 2006 (including at the Tour de France), and placing second in the short ITT at Three Days of De Panne. He also won the ITT at the Eneco Tour of Benelux in 2006 and placed fourth in two longer ITTs that year. He finished third in the prologue at the 2007 Tour de France and second in the prologue at the Volta a Catalunya in 2008.

 

[ire]

I got into cycling around 1999...and didn't really follow until last year.

What has Hincapie accomplished? Major wins?

He won a stage of the Tour once upon a time He also tried to out sprint Boonen in the Paris Roubaix (I think 2005), and of course he failed and placed second.

<edit> damn, TJ was all over that

 

[Westy]

I think George's biggest accomplishment was proving that riding deep section carbon fiber wheels at Roubaix is a bad idea.

 

[Silver]

Very Lance like move from JV there...petty and vindictive.

The only interesting thing that happened in the last 4 or 5 stages.

 

[BikeMike]

Garmin didn't have to help, but they also didn't need to push to the finish either. it's not totally their fault, but they could have let up like astana did

Wait, why does George deserve preferential treatment?

Everyone's got their panties in a bunch about Garmin working a bit because "it cost George a day in yellow." It's the biggest bike race in the world, not a feel-good club. I'll root for George, but I don't think he deserves a gift.

IMHO, if George wanted yellow so badly, 1)he could have sacrificed holding onto a chance of a win earlier--work more for the group to gain time and 2)Columbia could have let Cavendish go McEwen style (i.e. sans lead out train). I haven't heard any b1tching in the press at Astana for not letting the gap get larger earlier in the stage, but that would have done the trick too.

 

[Westy]

Next time I&#8217;m in this situation, I&#8217;m going to rip everybody&#8217;s legs off.

Yeah George, next time.

 

[splat]

By now you think he would know that, if you know it is going to be a matter of seconds , then you have Push harder to get every second you can get. and as was said you didn't see High rock doing anything to try and cotrol the peleton, except at the end to speed it up. Just from my observations watching , it looked like Astana didn't care if GH got yellow, they just didn't want to see a huge gap. Garmin on the other hand, what was there purpose in pushing the pace except to keep GH out of Yellow. and quite frankly his own team didn't do much to help him.

 

[maddog17]

Wait, why does George deserve preferential treatment?

i don't think he deserves preferential treatment. just saying that those in the main field who pushed really didn't have to. i also said earlier that GH should have blamed himeself too. he's been a pro now for a long time and should have seen that last attack go and went with it instead of waiting like everyone else did. partly blame his team too for pushing for the final sprint and for mgmt for not giving him time splits. he should have known how much time he had on the pack and on the leader. GH would like to blame others but in the end he shares the blame.

as for today, FINALLY get to see some real racing. Contador showed he's the strongest today and the next couple of stages will really be interesting.

 

[loco-gringo]

I think George's biggest accomplishment was proving that riding deep section carbon fiber wheels at Roubaix is a bad idea.

 

[sanjuro]

i don't think he deserves preferential treatment. just saying that those in the main field who pushed really didn't have to. i also said earlier that GH should have blamed himeself too. he's been a pro now for a long time and should have seen that last attack go and went with it instead of waiting like everyone else did. partly blame his team too for pushing for the final sprint and for mgmt for not giving him time splits. he should have known how much time he had on the pack and on the leader. GH would like to blame others but in the end he shares the blame.

as for today, FINALLY get to see some real racing. Contador showed he's the strongest today and the next couple of stages will really be interesting.

This will be the day to talk about this, but I just heard an interview will Bill Stapleton, the boss of Columbia. He was whining about how George has earned the respect, but the first thing I thought was why didn't you send 5 riders up with George to protect him?

You get what you get.

 

[SuspectDevice]

George and Rich are like extended family for lots of us here on the Eastcoast.

I got a tearfull call from my MOM after yesterdayy's stage, if that means anything to you guys... I got a text from an ex-fiance expressing how gutted she was for George.

George makes his own bad luck, but he is still the best American road pro of the Motorola generation... Even with all his foibles and 2nd's his Palmares are head and shoulders above any current or former US pro. George is there and has been there, on the cusp of potential victory 8 months a year for the last 15 years.

He's not a spoiled media-centric money-grubbing self-serving pack of lies and deception like the pustulent bile-sacks of flesh puppetry who have eclipsed him in the public eye either.

When the great decider wipes us all out, a pound of George's flesh will be found to have more substance than the corpses of the charlatans and demogauges who hog the public consciousness.

Probabally more HGH too.

 

[Silver]

This will be the day to talk about this, but I just heard an interview will Bill Stapleton, the boss of Columbia. He was whining about how George has earned the respect, but the first thing I thought was why didn't you send 5 riders up with George to protect him?

You get what you get.

Hincapie has also been a support rider for two of the more annoying and outspoken riders in recent memory.

Maybe he's not as beloved in the peloton as he is by the casual American cycling fan?

 

[sanjuro]

George and Rich are like extended family for lots of us here on the Eastcoast.

I got a tearfull call from my MOM after yesterdayy's stage, if that means anything to you guys... I got a text from an ex-fiance expressing how gutted she was for George.

George makes his own bad luck, but he is still the best American road pro of the Motorola generation... Even with all his foibles and 2nd's his Palmares are head and shoulders above any current or former US pro. George is there and has been there, on the cusp of potential victory 8 months a year for the last 15 years.

He's not a spoiled media-centric money-grubbing self-serving pack of lies and deception like the pustulent bile-sacks of flesh puppetry who have eclipsed him in the public eye either.

When the great decider wipes us all out, a pound of George's flesh will be found to have more substance than the corpses of the charlatans and demogauges who hog the public consciousness.

Probabally more HGH too.

Don't get me wrong.

The two names I mentioned from the 2003 Paris-Roubaix, one got busted for coke twice, and the other had his home raided for Veterinarian drugs.

I know Hincapie is the class of American cycling, and I root for him to win.

But deserve to win and trying to win are two different things.

 

[CBJ]

In the interview with his team manager Brian Holm he said that his old team tried to rally other teams to take away his opportunity to get the yellow jersey and they only did it to piss of George. Brian was really angry and could not sleep that night and said that it was some of the worst behavior he had seen.

Racing is racing and thought inter team fights like that was normal?