Crazy exciting Tour stage today. And it was another flat stage, and they generally aren't this exciting.
Lots of controversy after the race because American rider George Hincapie missed taking the yellow jersey by 5 seconds. Almost immediately, he blamed Armstrong and Team Astana for chasing down Hincapie's breakaway. Phil Liggett was repeating this accusation as well -- and, in fact, was repeating this on Versus from the moment Hincapie became the virtual leader on the road.
Actually, though, Hincapie didn't take the yellow jersey simply because AG2R (the team containing the rider with the yellow jersey, Rinaldo Nocentini) closed the gap too much with the help of American team Garmin-Slipstream. AG2R and Garmin were absolutely on the front 100 percent of the time from 50km down to the last 5km or so. Not Astana. The strange thing is Garmin didn't really have anything to gain in doing so.
Any crapola about Astana and Armstrong trying screw Hincapie is very exaggerated. From the moment Liggett began suggesting Armstrong ordered his team to chase down Hincapie, I watched the gap literally grow wider -- not tighter. I even turned to my wife and said that Liggett must not be watching the gap. Weirdly, Liggett continued to play out the Astana vs. Hincapie fight after the stage but fortunately Paul Sherwen attempted to correct the record.
But Hincapie is seriously plagued by some of the worst luck in cycling. How many times has Hincapie been denied a Paris-Roubaix victory due to flat tires? In one edition of the race, come to think of it, his handlebars literally snapped clean off his bike throwing him into a ditch.
Into the Alps on Sunday.