Columbia steps in it
George Hincapie was justifiably disgusted after stage 14. He began the day 5:25 behind the yellow jersey, got into a breakaway had a lead of 9 minutes at one point, only to finish 5:20 ahead of the peloton.
The only reward for finishing stage 14 five seconds out of the lead is a bitter taste in the mouth.
The post-race chatter leads to the fact that Garmin helped Ag2r push the peloton to close the gap, so the speculation is that the rivalry between the two American teams just got turned up a few notches of ugly.
There is no denying that Garmin did help close the gap, and I don't see any explanation. If they did it out if spite or stupidity, it makes no difference; the damage is done. But as Poseur says, "tough noogies." Cycling is a cut throat competition. As I like to say, if you have to rely on another team to do your work for you, maybe you didn't really earn it. But Garmin's not the only factor that spoiled Hincapie's day.
Astana. They've been helping Ag2r push the peloton all week. Astana isn't blameless here, as they did help narrow the gap under 7 minutes with 20 km to go. But they also rode an easy tempo much of the race to allow the gap to grow large in the first place. They played a bit part, but a bit part is significant when we're talking about 5 seconds.
Then there is the Columbia team itself. First, Hincapie. As the gap dwindled in the last 15 km, he tried to increase the pace, but had a hard time keeping the group organized. Really, the group might have been stronger if he had been able to split the passengers from the workers. He couldn't. Once he got to the 3 km he should have just gone all out. Ivanov was already off the front and the chase was disorganized. I bet if he had it to do all over again, Hincapie would have gone solo at that point rather than dallying with the group.
Columbia shot itself in the foot on the approach to the finish too. They certainly didn't have the long train of guys leading out Cavendish for a couple km like a normal sprint finish, but they did push the speed hard in the final 1.5 km. It was just a couple days ago that Columbia didn't give Cavendish the long lead out; Cav just followed THOR!'s wheel and passed him at the line. They should have done that again; they take some of the blame for spoiling Hincapie's bid for yellow.
Columbia compounded their problems with a bad sprint for the line. Cavendish was penalized for squeezing THOR! into the barrier. Although Cav beat THOR! to the line, he got zero points. Instead of closing the gap slightly, he got another goose egg and THOR! stretched the lead to 18 points. It was a bad day for Columbia.
On the other hand, Nick Roche nearly screwed things up for Ag2r. He was in the breakaway with Hincapie. He had every reason to be a passenger to protect his teammate in yellow. No one would blame him for sitting back. Instead, in the final 10 km, after Ivanov launched his stage-winning attack, and with the group disorganized, Roche attacked. TWICE. This moron ran the risk of speeding up the group and helping Hincapie overtake his own teammate. He didn't even get close to catching Ivanov and winning the stage. This was colossally stupid. If I were Ag2r's manager, I'd force Roche to ride at the front up the Alps tomorrow until he falls over and vomits.
By the way, Ivanov got his second ever Tour stage win and the first for team Katusha. Is that team sponsored by the Russian weapons manufacturer?
OK, I'm glad this week is over. Tomorrow they hit the Alps. Game on! Time to expose the poseurs.
The only reward for finishing stage 14 five seconds out of the lead is a bitter taste in the mouth.
The post-race chatter leads to the fact that Garmin helped Ag2r push the peloton to close the gap, so the speculation is that the rivalry between the two American teams just got turned up a few notches of ugly.
There is no denying that Garmin did help close the gap, and I don't see any explanation. If they did it out if spite or stupidity, it makes no difference; the damage is done. But as Poseur says, "tough noogies." Cycling is a cut throat competition. As I like to say, if you have to rely on another team to do your work for you, maybe you didn't really earn it. But Garmin's not the only factor that spoiled Hincapie's day.
Astana. They've been helping Ag2r push the peloton all week. Astana isn't blameless here, as they did help narrow the gap under 7 minutes with 20 km to go. But they also rode an easy tempo much of the race to allow the gap to grow large in the first place. They played a bit part, but a bit part is significant when we're talking about 5 seconds.
Then there is the Columbia team itself. First, Hincapie. As the gap dwindled in the last 15 km, he tried to increase the pace, but had a hard time keeping the group organized. Really, the group might have been stronger if he had been able to split the passengers from the workers. He couldn't. Once he got to the 3 km he should have just gone all out. Ivanov was already off the front and the chase was disorganized. I bet if he had it to do all over again, Hincapie would have gone solo at that point rather than dallying with the group.
Columbia shot itself in the foot on the approach to the finish too. They certainly didn't have the long train of guys leading out Cavendish for a couple km like a normal sprint finish, but they did push the speed hard in the final 1.5 km. It was just a couple days ago that Columbia didn't give Cavendish the long lead out; Cav just followed THOR!'s wheel and passed him at the line. They should have done that again; they take some of the blame for spoiling Hincapie's bid for yellow.
Columbia compounded their problems with a bad sprint for the line. Cavendish was penalized for squeezing THOR! into the barrier. Although Cav beat THOR! to the line, he got zero points. Instead of closing the gap slightly, he got another goose egg and THOR! stretched the lead to 18 points. It was a bad day for Columbia.
On the other hand, Nick Roche nearly screwed things up for Ag2r. He was in the breakaway with Hincapie. He had every reason to be a passenger to protect his teammate in yellow. No one would blame him for sitting back. Instead, in the final 10 km, after Ivanov launched his stage-winning attack, and with the group disorganized, Roche attacked. TWICE. This moron ran the risk of speeding up the group and helping Hincapie overtake his own teammate. He didn't even get close to catching Ivanov and winning the stage. This was colossally stupid. If I were Ag2r's manager, I'd force Roche to ride at the front up the Alps tomorrow until he falls over and vomits.
By the way, Ivanov got his second ever Tour stage win and the first for team Katusha. Is that team sponsored by the Russian weapons manufacturer?
OK, I'm glad this week is over. Tomorrow they hit the Alps. Game on! Time to expose the poseurs.
posted by uberschuck at 4:49 PM
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