Hincapie & the Yelllow Jersey TDF 2009

autobahn
autobahn Posts: 114
edited February 2011 in Pro race
Having recently watched Chasing Legends on DVD it touched upn the situation in the TDF 2009 were George Hincapie was on track to win the stage and be in the yellow jersey, possibly has last chance of his career to be in yellow.
Anyway it never happend, he missed it by seconds and there seemed to be a lot of upset that he wasnt allowed to win and it was mentioned that GH never spoke to Lance for 3 months after as he blamed his then team Astana for allowing him to loose the yellow jersey even though Astana were a rival team to his then team Columbia .
I dont understand what happend, surely its a race??? Was the intention to let GH have the stage and jersey as he was nice bloke & no overall threat to G.C?
Can someone who recalls this stage/ event explain in plain english what went on ?
I appreciate it.

Comments

  • Doobz
    Doobz Posts: 2,800
    google "Hincapie 2009 yellow jersey"

    1st link..

    Looks like English
    cartoon.jpg
  • DaveyL
    DaveyL Posts: 5,167
    Autobahn wrote:
    Having recently watched Chasing Legends on DVD it touched upn the situation in the TDF 2009 were George Hincapie was on track to win the stage and be in the yellow jersey, possibly has last chance of his career to be in yellow.
    Anyway it never happend, he missed it by seconds and there seemed to be a lot of upset that he wasnt allowed to win and it was mentioned that GH never spoke to Lance for 3 months after as he blamed his then team Astana for allowing him to loose the yellow jersey even though Astana were a rival team to his then team Columbia .
    I dont understand what happend, surely its a race??? Was the intention to let GH have the stage and jersey as he was nice bloke & no overall threat to G.C?
    Can someone who recalls this stage/ event explain in plain english what went on ?
    I appreciate it.

    Yes indeed you are quite correct, it is a race. And the yellow jersey is for the leader, it is not some sort of lifetime achievement award for "nice guys".
    Le Blaireau (1)
  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    I thought that Columbia got the hump with Garmin as they were the ones that were driving the break?
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • Cumulonimbus
    Cumulonimbus Posts: 1,730
    Yes, Garmin were the ones who came to the front in the final kilometres to drive the pace along for no apparent reason as they didnt have anyone in front. Even saw Lotto come to the front for a time too. There was then the go-slow sprint which ended in Cav being relegated.

    Hincapie wasnt going to win the stage. It was a large break and Ivanov went off the front. No-one chased for quite a while and those lost seconds were what lost Hincapie the yellow jersey - if he'd just put his head down and tried to power to the line then he might have fared better (assuming he wasnt knackered).

    That was also the stage where bennati and Willems had a big go at Roche for not helping the break leading Roche to have a go at Bennati in front of the Italian press the next day.

    They dont make the stages like that anymore
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Monty Dog wrote:
    I thought that Columbia got the hump with Garmin as they were the ones that were driving the break?

    That's what I thought too, although I haven't seen Chasing Legends so I dunno how it was presented.
  • Cumulonimbus
    Cumulonimbus Posts: 1,730
    FWIW the cyclingnews report says that Astana helped with the chase

    http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/96th-t ... 14/results
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,114
    Hincapie wanted to have his cake and eat it, i.e. he wanted to win the stage and take the yellow jersey.

    If he'd ridden for the latter alone he'd have got it.
  • dougzz
    dougzz Posts: 1,833
    <conspiracy>Maybe Vaughters thought George's past sins didn't deserve yellow</conspiracy>
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,157
    dougzz wrote:
    <conspiracy>Maybe Vaughters thought George's past sins didn't deserve yellow</conspiracy>

    The famous Vaughters/Andreu IM suggests that's probably not the case: "I don't know - I want to trust George"
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • Cumulonimbus
    Cumulonimbus Posts: 1,730
    There were theories that it was to do with Garmin (one US team) not wanting Columbia/Hincapie (american team/american rider) to get good publicity but who really knows? (well i suppose Garmin do but they arent telling)
  • Le Commentateur
    Le Commentateur Posts: 4,099
    It's obvious: they found out Columbia were having a Tour de France film made and so they decided to rewrite the plot. :twisted:
    Un uomo solo al commando
  • Tusher
    Tusher Posts: 2,762
    From what I remember, Matt White was accused of being the villain of the episode.
  • Moomaloid
    Moomaloid Posts: 2,040
    afx237vi wrote:
    Monty Dog wrote:
    I thought that Columbia got the hump with Garmin as they were the ones that were driving the break?

    That's what I thought too, although I haven't seen Chasing Legends so I dunno how it was presented.

    Phil and Paul start slating Garmin as though they'd disgraced George, his family and the whole of the cycling world... and even find time to mention that he thought it was Astana, but of course that was wrong... actually that nearly ruined the whole film for me.

    :shock:
  • federalski
    federalski Posts: 93
    andyp
    Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 9:38 pm Post subject:
    Hincapie wanted to have his cake and eat it, i.e. he wanted to win the stage and take the yellow jersey.

    If he'd ridden for the latter alone he'd have got it.

    Totally agree, there were periods in the last few kilos where he was just sitting in the group as it dawdled along, given he would have been shattered after a long day in the break but he should have kept some kind of pace going and forsaken the stage to wear yellow,
  • pedro118118
    pedro118118 Posts: 1,102
    It was Cav's fault (isn't it always?!). His big mouth earlier in the race (accusing other teams of racing like amateurs/juniors etc) gave Garmin the hump and they shut it down to ensure that Columbia (and therefore GH) didn't take the yellow jersey. From what I can remember, Astana were just riding tempo.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,732
    Cumulonimbus wrote:
    Yes, Garmin were the ones who came to the front in the final kilometres to drive the pace along for no apparent reason

    There was. They didn't want their rival US team to get the Yellow Jersey for a bit.

    Cycling's a fickle and political sport. If you don't make friends, it will come back on you.
    _
  • TMR
    TMR Posts: 3,986
    pedro118118 wrote:
    It was Cav's fault (isn't it always?!). His big mouth earlier in the race (accusing other teams of racing like amateurs/juniors etc) gave Garmin the hump and they shut it down to ensure that Columbia (and therefore GH) didn't take the yellow jersey. From what I can remember, Astana were just riding tempo.

    This is correct. Lance was quite happy for George to have yellow. Garmin were ordered by their management to cut the gap. That's not racing, it's just malice.
  • pedro118118
    pedro118118 Posts: 1,102
    Would agree that Garmin's actions could be construed as petty, but these things happen and what goes around comes around...
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,114
    No-one could ever accuse USPS (with Hincapie as 'road captain') from being petty could they?
  • LangerDan
    LangerDan Posts: 6,132
    Hincapie will leave the sport with a sackful of cash, a few good results, a trophy wife and his 2006 yellow jersey.

    If George wanted another memento perhaps he shouldn't have jizzed away his best years of his career in the service of others and instead focussed his form on the events he was best suited to.

    As someone pointed out at the time, should he have been given a Roubaix cobble too seeing as he hadn't managed to win one of those either?
    'This week I 'ave been mostly been climbing like Basso - Shirley Basso.'
  • lucca
    lucca Posts: 51
    I thought it was because GH broke wind and no one wanted to ride with him ?

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