Did Lance betray George?

[Walshworld]

You can debate tactics and what appreared to happen on the tv coverage but George is too classy to say what he said unless he really believed it. And what he said was Astana rode to close his lead and he was "highly insulted."
I'm blogging every stage with coverage & comedy at: http://walshworld.wordpress.com/

 

[frizzlefry]

LOL, the New World Order cometh.

 

[Master50]

You can debate tactics and what appreared to happen on the tv coverage but George is too classy to say what he said unless he really believed it. And what he said was Astana rode to close his lead and he was "highly insulted."
I'm blogging every stage with coverage & comedy at: http://walshworld.wordpress.com/

Astana was not chasing George. They had more to gain from George in Yellow just in good will and there is no way, even Lance would have shut him down like that at this point in the race.

I expect the teams were getting the time splits to Ivanov and thought George had enough.

 

[Amsterhammer]

As this question or issue was a focus of today's stage, it is already being discussed at length in the daily sticky at the top of the page.

 

[Boeing]

Tough Call.

If so it had more to do with Columbia as a whole that it did George.

For some reason stapelton ****es off a lot of people in this sport. besides Cav's mouth the team seems to block at the front and are disruptive in the least. Some guys feel it is out of the peloton tradition etc..

Cav did today again.

Johan made an interesting comment at the start of the tour "just because you have a lotof wins doesnt mean you are the best team" sounds like a political ****ing match

Just a thought

I am cool with your post man. better than filtering through the random muck of a general thread

 

[titotito]

This is slightly off topic, but I thought Andreu's approach to interviewing Armstrong was really interesting. First he interviews George who says he's insulted that Astana rode him down. Right after hearing this, he interviews Armstrong and instead of asking him something like "George is upset because he thinks you rode him down, what are your comments" he asks something along the lines of "were you guys riding tempo to help George win the yellow jersey?" He feeds him an answer that is the exact opposite of what George was feeling. Interesting, and lame. I would have liked to have heard the answer to the first question I listed.

 

[The Colnago Kid]

Stapleton's hissy fit = comedy gold

Columbia-HTC might be winning a lot of races but their arrogance and petulance is losing them a lot of friends - both within the peloton and amongst the fans on the roadside.

I was seriously surprised by Hincapie's antics on Stage 8 where he seemed to think the leaders from other teams (read: Evans) should be racing to the instructions of Columbia. I've been a huge fan of his for years but I lost a lot of respect for him that day. And here we have Hincapie's boss mouthing of in exactly the same way - hilarious.

Stapleton should spend more time counselling Hincapie for not getting on the front and driving the remnants of the breakaway home over the last 4 kilometres if the yellow jersey was that important to them; rather than getting stuck into Garmin for doing their job, ie rolling through on the front and looking to keep their two GC hopes out of trouble.

I notice Stapleton hasn't taken a shot at Astana for doing the same thing, probably because he knows Bruyneel (and Armstrong) would tell him to shove it. Equally, which train was on the front cranking the speed up in the last 2 kilometres, yep: Columbia. That's about five seconds there, Bob. Bob? Yep. That's right, Bob. Karma's a b1tch.

 

[hfer07]

Don't go any further- LA has posted all over the media --"his view"-- of what took place in the stage---but why he has to do so if Astana was doing the right thing to begin with?

 

[Anonymous]

well if we beleive twitter...

Lance:-
St14 done. Sounds like there's quite a bit of confusion over this one... Noone, and I mean noone, wanted George in yellow more than me. Our team rode a moderate tempo to put him in the jersey by at least 2 mins. Ag2r said they would not defend then they started to ride.
Until 10km to go he was solidly in yellow until GARMIN put on the gas and made sure it didn't happen. And I reiterate. @ghincapie deserves to be yellow tonight. He deserves more than that. Look to who pulled the last 50k to see who to blame..

Brad Wiggins:-
This man does'nt quite understand what went on today. @ghincapie is a legend and deserves to be in yellow tonight!

janibrajkovic:-
So, why was Garmin pulling today? @ghincapie deserved to be in yellow today.

 

[scott22]

Final Judgement

I've watched this stage 3 times now and it is obvious that Astana did NOT try to keep the yellow jersey from George. Phil Liggett should be ashamed of his comments at the end of the stage. By his own words when Astana was on the front (at 41 to 56 min's into Versus coverage) he says they have "definitely eased off", are "setting false tempo", and are "letting the gap run."
Astana let the gap rise from 7:00 to a high of 12:15. They did bring it back from 12:00 to 9:00. At which point they stopped riding in front. AG2R took over, and with NO help from Astana, brought the gap down to 6:30 but couldn't bring it down anymore...until Garmin decided to ruin George's day and sent their riders to the front to pull hard.

 

[Anonymous]

which is why i am so glad we dont have to listen to liggett...

you guys can keep him..

 

[unsheath]

The article on Stapleton on the main page makes him out to be some greedy, whining, self serving little twit. 4 stage wins, numerous days in green and the white jersey not enough Bobby? I think you've had enough millions eyeballing your kit since the tour started, so your new sponsor should be happy. My question is why wouldn't Garmin ride if it was in their interest to do so? That's racing, deal with it. Columbia dish sh*t out, so they should learn to take the consequences.

 

[blackcat]

Has anyone asked about the manipulation of the sport, and why AG2R do not deserve to keep the lead, and why should the peloton manipulate the race to give Hinapie the jersey. It makes the sport a farce. I do appreciate it has always been this way, but, for heaven's sake, this is absurd.

 

[Anonymous]

Has anyone asked about the manipulation of the sport, and why AG2R do not deserve to keep the lead, and why should the peloton manipulate the race to give Hinapie the jersey. It makes the sport a farce. I do appreciate it has always been this way, but, for heaven's sake, this is absurd.

This is all about finding a scape goat to beat on now. Shit happens, so pull up your big girl panties and suck it up Columbia. George has had a day in yellow. He needs another why? It was a show pony move to put him in yellow the day before he would lose it anyway, and it doesn't change anything about tomorrow substantially anyway.

Stapleton also was quoted today about having won 60 times and Garmin only getting 10 and how that must be hard for them. The guy is a *** and his team doesn't deserve yellow because their legs didn't earn it. Like I said, it was 6 seconds up the road, and all the whining about how bad their taint hurts won't change the fact that being given the gift of a yellow is a pretty wussy way to get it anyway.

I also love the fact that the green was put a little further up the road today also. Cav is the man in the final sprint, and he backs up his words. It is also satisfying to see those words gain him nothing in terms of the green jersey.

Columbia are a great team, no doubt. They are also fun to watch when things don't go their way because they act like wimpy little divas stomping their feet and crying like someone didn't put figs in their fruit salad.

 

[elapid]

IPhil Liggett should be ashamed of his comments at the end of the stage.

Offended by Phil??? No! What surprised me more than anything was Phil saying something indirectly against Lance.

As for the incident, Astana had nothing to do with it, they were just trying to keep the break within a respectable gap. Garmin are the main culprits, and there is obvious history between Garmin and Columbia. Vaughters claims they just wanted to make sure that Wiggins and Vandevelde did not miss out on a potential break, like has happened twice so far in this Tour. Fair enough, but the crosswinds were not bad and that what set up the last two breaks. While I agree with the sentiments from most posters in wanting George in yellow tonight, why does Garmin have to gift it to him when George does not ride for Garmin? Sorry, just had to ask.

 

[Anonymous]

One final thing, what in the hell gives Astana the idea that they get to determine who gets the yellow anyway? (If you read comments by the Uniballer and The Hog, that is what they say they were doing.) If they wanted yellow, they could have gotten it by now. They haven't and it wasn't their's to give away. AG2R have it and if they wanted to keep it, then they had every right to ride for it regardless of what Lance says they told him. Garmin helped and well, if Astana had the jersey and wanted to give it away, then I am sure that would not have happened.

 

[The Colnago Kid]

Evans and Silence-Lotto played their part too

Just watched the replay of the closing kilometres again. Great to see Cadel Evans and a team mate driving the peloton along from 2km to go until the red kite at 1 km to go - taking over from Garmin and AG2R. Nice to see them owning a slice of the 5 second square-up with the all-new Bill Stapleton inspired mouthy George Hincapie. Stage 8's histrionics won't be forgotten for a long-time, George. Enjoy.

 

[Pajan53]

George Himself is to blame

It's not the job of the other teams to give the jersey to George. He has only himself to blame. During the last 10K he did nothing to bring back Ivanov and just sat behind the others chasing. If he really wanted the jersey he should have put his head down and ride as fast as he could and not worry at all about who won the stage. His own team did as much as any other to pull the peleton in the last 10 k or so to protect Cavendish. The other teams job is to protect their own interests - they didn't steal anything for Hincape - he wasn't or couldn't make the commitment to take the jersey himself.

 

[The Colnago Kid]

As this question or issue was a focus of today's stage, it is already being discussed at length in the daily sticky at the top of the page.

Just checked out that thread and unfortunately, like many of the threads on here, it seems to consist mostly of finger-pointing and name calling and not a lot of insightful analysis. So ... no thanks.

 

[blackcat]

It's not the job of the other teams to give the jersey to George. He has only himself to blame. During the last 10K he did nothing to bring back Ivanov and just sat behind the others chasing. If he really wanted the jersey he should have put his head down and ride as fast as he could and not worry at all about who won the stage. His own team did as much as any other to pull the peleton in the last 10 k or so to protect Cavendish. The other teams job is to protect their own interests - they didn't steal anything for Hincape - he wasn't or couldn't make the commitment to take the jersey himself.

I was not watching the stage, but it is protocol for the rider who will wear the leader's jersey, not to contest the win. If he was holding back, to play a bit two ways. Then stuff him. He could have driven the break, and let a few others pull through, and when there was a guy jumping, he could have closed it, and then sat in while it was driven, and then closed another, and sat in a little. Should have kept the momentum of those behind Ivanov.

 

[msjett]

One final thing, what in the hell gives Astana the idea that they get to determine who gets the yellow anyway? (If you read comments by the Uniballer and The Hog, that is what they say they were doing.) If they wanted yellow, they could have gotten it by now. They haven't and it wasn't their's to give away. AG2R have it and if they wanted to keep it, then they had every right to ride for it regardless of what Lance says they told him. Garmin helped and well, if Astana had the jersey and wanted to give it away, then I am sure that would not have happened.

Agreed TFF...

 

[titotito]

Just watched the replay of the closing kilometres again. Great to see Cadel Evans and a team mate driving the peloton along from 2km to go until the red kite at 1 km to go - taking over from Garmin and AG2R. Nice to see them owning a slice of the 5 second square-up with the all-new Bill Stapleton inspired mouthy George Hincapie. Stage 8's histrionics won't be forgotten for a long-time, George. Enjoy.

Forgive my ignorance, but what happened on Stage 8?

 

[cooltech]

The stages

I know this may sound strange, but with the variety of bickering and favoritism that seems to go on with announcers and riders and what ever else is a distraction; I really enjoyed the stage 12 victory of Sorenson. He nailed his brake away, took his first stage win, and just for a moment all the other stuff was irrelevant.
Overall, I am enjoying the TDF. Can't watch every moment though. Have my own biking to do.
By the way; I put a deposit on a new Trek!!! I've been toying with a new bike purchase for a couple of yrs. Restored my ole vintage Gitane; (Circa 1974), and have been riding that for a couple yrs. now.
cooltech

 

[Seth Bullock]

Columbia are a great team, no doubt. They are also fun to watch when things don't go their way because they act like wimpy little divas stomping their feet and crying like someone didn't put figs in their fruit salad.

If someone put figs in my fruit salad I'd probably be crying too. Disgusting.

 

[Reynolds Boy]

Bobby is learning well...

Agreed TFF...

+2

The rant by Stapleton is a prime example of the sort of American-centric dicksizing nonsense that is employed so regularly by Armstrong on Twitter and his other outlets. Unfortunately, the results have shown to be immediate and tremendously successful (atleast if you are a regular reader anywhere on the internet or of the American press..) A few tweets & he's got the multifaceted fanboy attack into top gear in short order

This is the sort of stuff that makes any longtime fan of the sport ill.. the supposed bigboys, playing out the blamegame for such a tiny faction of the viewing public.. because in the end it results in $$ in their pockets. the total derision of the pride & the integrity between members of the peleton... (even the omerta can lay claim to being a tremendous measure of interpersonal respect!)

George should have been able to put in the work if he wanted the jersey.. Ivanov obviously had himself no regrets at the end of the stage.

Too bad fanboys!