asgelle

But that's a big "if". It seems to me that it takes 2-3 years before we get the true picture of what a rider's or team's true condition was. At this time, I consider everything we hear to be propoganda put out for some purpose and the truth is only a secondary consideration.

In this case, the easiest explanation is that Hincapie came into the Tour in worse shape than expected and tried to cover it up with all the GC talk hoping to ride into shape before he was attacked or had to show his true condition. As it turned out, things didn't work out as planned.

feltdude

Well, first of all, "reports" don't necessarily mean "truths" and if he missed significant time Disco wouldn't be advantaged by letting that on.

Second, being off the road for 2 weeks and missing tuneup events can definitely have an effect.

You can hate all you want on Hincapie and say he'll never be good enough to win. But the Hincapie that I know and I've ridden with, plus based on his ITT and his overall finish and his ability to not get dropped last year, would be finishing in the Top 5 this year. This year he's over 20 minutes back. There's something more there.

Nevermind that he couldn't keep up with T-Mobile in the mountains. He couldn't even keep up with AG2R.