Stage 14 - Colmar - Besancon SPOILER

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Comments

  • mmitchell88
    mmitchell88 Posts: 340
    Hushovd continues his new habit of having a chat as he crosses the line
    Making a cup of coffee is like making love to a beautiful woman. It's got to be hot. You've got to take your time. You've got to stir... gently and firmly. You've got to grind your beans until they squeak.
    And then you put in the milk.
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Le Mevel up to 5th! Sacrebleu! Everyone forgot about him.
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    Good stage for a change.

    Lionel Birnie's tweet near the end was funny
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • Adieu
    Adieu Posts: 83
    Okay, that stage was quite exciting. :D Shame about Big George :(
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Sergei says thank to everyone who trusts him and believes him.... er, anyone? Hands up? Okaaaaay then.
  • donrhummy
    donrhummy Posts: 2,329
    Uh-oh. Hincapie is pissed at Lance! He looks absolutely CRUSHED and said, "I don't know why Astana was riding so hard...it's an insult...it's not worth talking to them about but I don't know why they..." then he trailed off and looked at the floor.
    :shock:
  • Adieu
    Adieu Posts: 83
    donrhummy wrote:
    Uh-oh. Hincapie is pissed at Lance! He looks absolutely CRUSHED and said, "I don't know why Astana was riding so hard...it's an insult...it's not worth talking to them about but I don't know why they..." then he trailed off and looked at the floor.
    :shock:

    Astana weren't near the front at all in the last 40km?
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Oh no, not Lance and George! First Katie and Peter, now this :shock:
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Adieu wrote:
    donrhummy wrote:
    Uh-oh. Hincapie is pissed at Lance! He looks absolutely CRUSHED and said, "I don't know why Astana was riding so hard...it's an insult...it's not worth talking to them about but I don't know why they..." then he trailed off and looked at the floor.
    :shock:

    Astana weren't near the front at all in the last 40km?

    They were for the first 160km though.
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    WTF? Hinault again?! Is this a new annual tradition in France or something?
  • donrhummy
    donrhummy Posts: 2,329
    Adieu wrote:
    donrhummy wrote:
    Uh-oh. Hincapie is pissed at Lance! He looks absolutely CRUSHED and said, "I don't know why Astana was riding so hard...it's an insult...it's not worth talking to them about but I don't know why they..." then he trailed off and looked at the floor.
    :shock:

    Astana weren't near the front at all in the last 40km?

    Astana rode HARD for a LONG time to pull the gap from almost 9 minutes down to 6 or so. They DEFINITELY worked hard to keep George from yellow. I wasn't sure why either since he's not really a GC threat and even a 5 minute lead by him would never hold up after TT's and the Alps. He's right to be pissed.

    They're going to interview Lance in a minute on VS, I'll let you all know if he says anything about it.

    BTW, I've NEVER seen George that pissed. He almost looked like he was going to cry too.
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725
    afx237vi wrote:
    Oh no, not Lance and George! First Katie and Peter, now this :shock:
    :lol::lol:
    and to think. Harmon asked Bobby Staples, whether when Astana implod this week, would George be drafted in to help Uncle Lance!

    If I were he, I'd be more pissed at Garmin.

    Yep, that was a bit of a nail biter, counting down that clock.
    Poor old George. Once again so near, but yet so far.
    Still, instead of farting around, sitting on wheels, after Ivanov was long gone...

    He should have said, "gosh darn" and stuck his head down, train style.
    I'm sure he had 5 seconds in the tank.
    The ES pros seem to agree with this
    Columbia gave Big Thor the second opportunity to have a "moan", at somebody at the finish, in two days. Nice boxing, Cav!
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • aurelio_-_banned
    aurelio_-_banned Posts: 1,317
    afx237vi wrote:
    Adieu wrote:
    Astana weren't near the front at all in the last 40km?
    They were for the first 160km though.
    For a long time I got the impression that they were just tapping through and so, by deterring all the others teams from organising a more determined chase, were actually helping Hincapie's group to maintain their lead.
  • donrhummy
    donrhummy Posts: 2,329
    WOW. OK, here's Lance:
    We wanted him (George) to have the jersey...Garmin towards the end must have had some sort of rivalry with him, i think it's something personal between those two teams (Columbia/Garmin).

    Unbelievable! He BLAMES it on Garmin!!
  • mmitchell88
    mmitchell88 Posts: 340
    Cavendish awarded NO POINTS?
    Making a cup of coffee is like making love to a beautiful woman. It's got to be hot. You've got to take your time. You've got to stir... gently and firmly. You've got to grind your beans until they squeak.
    And then you put in the milk.
  • timoid.
    timoid. Posts: 3,133
    Columbia fucked up. Shoulda slowed the whole thing down and not bothered with the sprint.

    Karma's a bitch
    It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.
  • aurelio_-_banned
    aurelio_-_banned Posts: 1,317
    donrhummy wrote:
    WOW. OK, here's Lance:
    We wanted him (George) to have the jersey...Garmin towards the end must have had some sort of rivalry with him, i think it's something personal between those two teams (Columbia/Garmin).
    As I just said, for a long time I got the impression that they were just tapping through and so, by deterring all the others teams from organising a more determined chase, were actually helping Hincapie's group to maintain their lead.
  • donrhummy
    donrhummy Posts: 2,329
    aurelio wrote:
    donrhummy wrote:
    WOW. OK, here's Lance:
    We wanted him (George) to have the jersey...Garmin towards the end must have had some sort of rivalry with him, i think it's something personal between those two teams (Columbia/Garmin).
    As I just said, for a long time I got the impression that they were just tapping through and so, by deterring all the others teams from organising a more determined chase, were actually helping Hincapie's group to maintain their lead.

    If that were true, the gap wouldn't have come down by more than two minutes with Astana on the front.
  • Adieu
    Adieu Posts: 83
    To be fair, Garmin were pushing really hard at the end for no apparent reason.
  • rjh299
    rjh299 Posts: 721
    mmitchell88 wrote:
    Cavendish awarded NO POINTS?
    Absolute b*llocks! Did nothing wrong, held his line. Even when first seeing finish you could see it was too narrow of a finish. It probably would have been worse if they had a proper sprint to the finish, not the slow one they did.
    I reckon the organisers probably weren't happy with the way HTC slowed down the sprint but they didn't break any rules or ride dangerously.
  • aurelio_-_banned
    aurelio_-_banned Posts: 1,317
    donrhummy wrote:
    aurelio wrote:
    As I just said, for a long time I got the impression that they were just tapping through and so, by deterring all the others teams from organising a more determined chase, were actually helping Hincapie's group to maintain their lead.
    If that were true, the gap wouldn't have come down by more than two minutes with Astana on the front.
    Two minutes over how many km? The break was away for 180 km!
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Cavendish has been relegated to 154th place, presumably for pushing Thor towards the barrier.

    0 points, end of jersey hopes.
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    aurelio wrote:
    As I just said, for a long time I got the impression that they were just tapping through and so, by deterring all the others teams from organising a more determined chase, were actually helping Hincapie's group to maintain their lead.

    This is a day I never thought would come.

    Aurelio and Lance have reached an accord :wink:
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • calvjones
    calvjones Posts: 3,850
    afx237vi wrote:
    Cavendish has been relegated to 154th place, presumably for pushing Thor towards the barrier.

    0 points, end of jersey hopes.

    Thor can't have got many, surely?
    ___________________

    Strava is not Zen.
  • rjh299
    rjh299 Posts: 721
    calvjones wrote:
    afx237vi wrote:
    Cavendish has been relegated to 154th place, presumably for pushing Thor towards the barrier.

    0 points, end of jersey hopes.

    Thor can't have got many, surely?

    Todays stage leaves Cav 18 points behind
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    calvjones wrote:
    afx237vi wrote:
    Cavendish has been relegated to 154th place, presumably for pushing Thor towards the barrier.

    0 points, end of jersey hopes.

    Thor can't have got many, surely?

    13 for 13th place.

    Thor = 218
    Cav = 200
  • calvjones
    calvjones Posts: 3,850
    :shock:
    ___________________

    Strava is not Zen.
  • Adieu
    Adieu Posts: 83
    Well that sucks...
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    I bet if it was the other way and it happened to Cav, the other guy would be a dirty cheat.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • marinerrr
    marinerrr Posts: 81
    It's a real shame that such a tight competition may be decided by commissaires of all things, rather than actually on the road.
    Personally, I didn't see that Cavendish did much wrong, but it's one of those ones that could go either way - Columbia will almost certainly appeal against it, will be interesting to see whether they get him reinstated, I hope they do.

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