BIG GEORGE GETS OH SO CLOSE

During the evening Versus coverage, a segment was done of favorite victory salutes and stage wins. On the bulletin board hanging in my room, I have the newspaper article and photo from my favorite stage. I have watched that victory salute so many times but I never get tired of the look on George Hincapie's face when he won stage 15 of the 2005 Tour de France. I love that stage. And I love George Hincapie. He's one of my favorite riders because he's the hardworking teammate who gives everything for someone else. When he does get a chance, it always seems to be taken away from him, through no fault of his own. Which makes today's stage so heartbreaking. I'm not sure if I have ever seen George Hincapie look as crushed as he was today. Because he deserved that yellow jersey. And I will try to be as unbiased as possible when I write about the newest drama in the peloton but it's going to be hard because I love big George, I love Columbia, and I can't stand Garmin.

What I saw as I watched the stage:
-Break goes away with George Hincapie and Jens Voight, two of my favorite riders.
-Jens Voight is out of the break after his mechanic forgot how to change a wheel quickly. He's mad because he is the king of epic breakaways and this could've been one of those.
-Astana at the front but not chasing. They could've let the break get a little more of a lead because they did want George to have yellow.
-AG2R starts chasing because, duh, they have the jersey and don't want to lose it.
-AG2R sucks at chasing because they've worn themselves out.
-Silence Lotto (team of Cadel Evans who I don't like) comes to the front for a little while for no apparent reason. They don't have a sprinter but they also don't have a guy in the break. They weren't at the front for long though so they don't have as much to do with it.
-Garmin bringing their guys to the front for no apparent reason. They have a sprinter but the breakaway was asured the stage win and Farrar has no chance at green. Not sure exactly what they were trying to do.
-Sergei Ivanov winning a great stage. The video of him breathing hard after the finish shows how hard he worked. Not sure why there wasn't cameras around him.
-Columbia doing the slowest leadout they've ever done.
-George losing out on yellow by five seconds. He is angry.

And now for my completely and utterly biased opinion on what happened in stage 14 along with all the conspiracy theories that went with it. George deserved yellow. In his 14th TdF, always being the hardworking teammate, it should have been his. Maybe he could've have used different tactics, rode a little faster, done something differently to get himself in yellow. But when the maillot jaune is on the line, I think you give absolutely everything you have. I don't think George could've rode faster. The yellow jersey is not given away as a present however, it's worn by those who earn it. After all these years, George Hincapie has earned a second yellow jersey. Which then evokes one of the many gentlemen rules of cycling. If "a legend like him deserved to be in yellow" and the guy isn't a threat on GC, the only team that should've been chasing is the team defending yellow. Yes, it might've been a gift, but it would've been well deserved. In another way, it would'nt have been a gift, but just following some basic rules of the peloton. Such as, if you're such a pro American team, you let the American legend get his jersey and not just chase him down for no other reason than you're a jerk. If Garmin is mad at Cav's trash talk (which he backs up) and at not beating Cav in the sprints, then race man to man. Taking away someone's chance at yellow because their team is more successful is not honorable. If they were mad at Cav, then they beat him at the line. Don't take it out on the nice guy in the peloton.

There's a lot of pointing fingers right now and it seems that everyone is talking except big George. We all know that AG2R couldn't have kept that jersey by themselves, they couldn't have done that chase on their own. We saw Garmin chase. And now Columbia is blaming other teams and thie Tour now sucks (I don't think I'm knowledgable enough to comment on Cav's sprint DQ but I do think it's unfair). The Garmin boys are saying they just did what they were told to do, as they were just "pawns in their game", which brings up even more questions. Can the riders do anything without someone higher up's permission? What is Jonathon Vaughter's problem?

I hope it was worth it Garmin. Because you just screwed yourselves. Columbia is a very strong and united team. They won't let this go. Because Garmin took away the chance of a lifetime, the chance to wear the maillot jaune from a man that deserves it more than any Garmin rider will. Jonathon Vaughters can say all the BS he wants but it won't change how his team disgraced themselves. They just made a lot of people angry when this stage could've been great for everyone but AG2R. This is all just my opinion of course. I think this Johan Buryneel quote best sums up what went on during this stage.

"Obviously it was clear they didn't want to see him in the jersey. If you start to race like that, to go against the success of other people, ultimately it comes back, and I think that is what is going to happen.

Columbia is not going to be happy. It's going to be a battle of American teams, and it's not a battle of results. It's a battle of not wanting somebody else to be in the spotlight. I didn't like that. I didn't like what I saw. I don't think George will be very happy. I know George has a lot of friends on Garmin. I don't know if they wanted to do what they did. I expect that this will have another story to it in the future."

Garmin sucks. Big George Hincapie rocks. Summary of that stage.