Comments on: TdF Stage 14: an off topic rant

By: aroonietoons

aroonietoons — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 21:10:10 +0000

Man, I always get '86 and '89 Tour lore mixed up. Yeah, I meant Fignon.

No matter what your job we've all been snaked by someone and probably also snaked someone for credit, a promotion, etc… It sucks, but that's how competition works. So if Garmin were trying to keep Hincapie out of yellow then I'll stick with my original assertion of that's bike racing.

That being said, Zabriskie, CVV, Millar and Wiggins all live in Girona with Hincapie and train with him and are friends/friendly with him. Matt White went to battle with Hincapie in Flanders, Gent-Wevelgem and Roubaix for a few years when both were on Postal. I can't see any of them putting the screws to Hincapie for the sake of team rivalry. But yeah, that doesn't explain Zabriskie's tweet.

I just found out that my fellow Canuck Michael Barry has his take posted on Velonews:
http://www.velonews.com/article/95629/michael-barry-on-hincapie-s-five-seconds

P.S. I love the design posts, but it is nice that you mixed it up with a race commentary.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:37:36 +0000

*cough* Stick to posting about cute yuppie designer bikes that don't work.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 03:25:52 +0000

Sorry , Guys you can defend Garmin's pointless attack . But I wondering what Garmin is defending as they're going to lose anyway . Not that giving your best isn't the right way to race regardless . Some realistic tactics would help . Up until Saturday I was a Garmin Slipstream fan , was . Oh yeah , I didn't start following The Tour this year , I rooted on the Cannibal when he was still winning Tours .So don't just say bad tactics and pettiness is " bike racing " blow smoke some where else . Anyone can come up with excuses for bad behavior be they three years old or president of the United States .
Random Ray

By: James

James — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:55:30 +0000

Thanks for the comments everyone. I was hoping when I posted this that I would hear from a few people with opposing viewpoints. I wrote the post after watching stages 14 and 15 back to back and admittedly my point of was slightly biased. That said, I still believe that the Garmin/Columbia (or Stapleton/Vaughters) rivalry was a big part of the reason that the Garmin riders were pulling. I just don’t (completely) buy Matt White’s explanation that he only wanted his guys in a good position at the front for the final kilometers. If that were the case, why did Zabriskie write on Twitter following the stage that the riders were “Pawns in their game”? Wiggins made a similar comment saying that he didn’t understand what went on. Zabriskie and Hincapie are friends, so maybe Dave felt compelled to write something like that…I don’t know. Certainly there are different ways to look at it, but I DO still believe that inter-team politics had as much or more to do with the finish as true race tactics did.

As arnietoons said though, “that’s bike racing.” I certainly don’t want racing to become predictable. Better to have stages like this one than boring scripted races. By the way, arnietoons, you meant ask Hinault about ’86 not ‘89, right? Or were you referring to Fignon in ’89? Either way, both were great Tours that I remember well. In fact, watching the TV coverage of that final time trial in ’89 was one of the most exciting Tour moments that I can remember.

dré, thanks for that VeloNews link. It is interesting to read all of those reactions in one place.

Keep the comments coming. I am interested in everyone’s take on this.

By: John the Monkey

John the Monkey — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 07:42:01 +0000

Anonymous - "Garmin didn't need Columbia riding to protect Hincapie today, which would make life easier for Astana. AG2R was spent, so letting them keep yellow hurt Astana. Nothing to do with Hincapie personally, or Columbia."

Is spot on. The other teams don't/didn't need Astana getting help from Columbia on the front. I'd have liked to see GH in yellow too, personally, but Columbia's apparent sense of entitlement, and outrage that other teams would act in their own self interest (as opposed to the interests of Astana and Columbia) is baffling.

I do wish that Garmin would come out and say as much though, as they seem to be getting a lot of the hate from Columbia over this.

By: dré

dré — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 07:11:49 +0000

also check http://velonews.com/article/95404/a-tale-of-five-seconds—the-besan%26ccedil%3Bon-hincapie

By: Baublehead

Baublehead — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 04:55:32 +0000

Agree with the last post. Garmin needed to keep pressure on Astana because they hold all the cards. Why not use two non-gc riders to for a bit to make Astana ride more tempo the next day knowing AG2R could not?

Seems like good tactics to me.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 04:45:24 +0000

Garmin didn't need Columbia riding to protect Hincapie today, which would make life easier for Astana. AG2R was spent, so letting them keep yellow hurt Astana. Nothing to do with Hincapie personally, or Columbia.

It wouldn't have hurt Hincapie to drive a little harder for most of the last 15k. As in: you don't get what you don't earn yourself, and stop whining, it's unseemly.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:27:14 +0000

You're welcome to talk about anything bicycle related. Seriously though, I think with design topics all the time, your blog gets a little dry. Mix and match sometimes.

By: aroonietoons

aroonietoons — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:06:57 +0000

Dude, that's bike racing. I watched the stage live and some of the replay and as near as I can tell the four Garmin riders weren't taking long pulls to drive the chase. I believe Matt White when he says he ordered his guys up front to avoid missing a gap as had happened a couple of times to them this tour. With the sprinters gearing up for the Green Jersey fight a brake in the field was possible and seconds count - just ask Hinault about '89.

I totally wanted to see Hincapie in Yellow, because there isn't a more deserving guy, but like I said that's bike racing.