flythebike

https://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2006...sults/eneco064

Glad to see Hincapie finally come out on top after a bunch of seconds lately. Probably unlikely anybody can get around him in the rest of the race.

Too bad for last year's winner Bobby Julich that he had to go home before the start of stage three. Hopefully Bobby can put it together and do a good ride for the US Natz but I'm not holding my breath. He is in a pretty big hole right now, but personally I hope he doesn't give up.

I had a "C' (goal level) race today that was on a really tough course. A spoke head pulled through the rim at some point (not sure when) and the rim was rubbing on the brake. I was already on my spare, having flatted before the race even started. I didn't notice it but I'm sure it tolled on me and I got dropped with twelve laps to go of 35 or so. I didn't quit though and hung out there until six to go before they pulled me. I'd still probably have dropped or finished in the second group but probably would have finished if not for the added drag on the system, so I feel ok about it and glad I didn't just quit when I lost the pack. That was what I learned today that it feels really good to not quit, even if it is kind of futile and doesn't produce an immediate result.

Before anybody flames me for the mortal sin of comparing myself to a pro, I'm just saying that even pros can use somebody saying to them go go don't quit keep it up! I sure appreciated the people today who encouraged me after I was dropped. Hincapie kept getting second but didn't quit. Julich is in rough shape now but I hope he recovers and tries again to reach his best level.

Great new criterium course up in Williamsport Maryland today. Wicked tight corner at the bottom of a long big chainring hill through the start finish. Screaming fast backstretch down a hill after a difficult traverse between turns one and two, then back up a drag, then a soft left, into that tight right hander to the start finish climb. All the races were split into pieces, a real tough race to have to do not quite recovered from some hard training, but still glad I did it.

Anyway kind of hijacked my own thread.

flythebike

Hincapie ended up losing by one second after the race winner changed his line in the final sprint and crashed him. What a load of crap that he wasn't relegated. Hincapie would have been third to Schumacher's second and retained the lead if he hadn't taken him down. This race was a joke last year due to bad organization and this just renders it an even bigger laugh.

It is just too bad Hincapie couldn't go a little faster in the tt. My dad used to alwasys say never let it get so close that a bad call costs you the win. Usually that doesn't apply to cycling but certainly does in this case.

Grasschopper

What a bunch of crap...pure puss to take that win on the bonus points you got by crashing the race leader.

toshi

Horrible end to that race.

timmhaan

i wasn't able to see it...how close were those fans? was the swerve necessary?

flythebike

A guy had his arm out, but pulled it back way before Schumacher made his move to dodge it that resulted in Hincapie's fall. (The guy was happy because Gilbert had won the stage. I don't think he realized the pack was right there, becuase the finish occured on a bend and he couldn't see them coming. As soon as he saw them, he pulled back his arm.) But Schumacher's reaction was natural and understandable and you can't really fault him too much for it. Because it was on a bend, the effect was much greater. So the whole thing is kind of a catch 22/damned if you do damned if you don't kind of thing. One thing is for sure, the barriers at these races need to be higher in the finishing straight becuase this kind of thing is happening too often.

All in all though, Hincapie was clearly robbed. Another blow to the credibility of cycling.

timmhaan

yeah, it must be tough to make these decisions real time at 45 mph coming into the finish. i can't blame him for swerving either. damn, just sucks real bad for GH.

flythebike

Telling photos here: https://www.velonews.com/race/int/articles/10752.0.html.

flythebike

I feel really indignant about this. Not really Schumacher's fault but the fact remains that he benefited from hooking the race leader in the last 100m. Seems like the benefit of the doubt should go to the person in the leader's jersey.

Panic

Crap way to lose. Has any video been posted on Youtube yet?

Grasschopper

The guy is quoted as saying he didn't want to win that way...well fine then after you take down the leader slow down at the line and let 2 or 3 people pass you so you don't get the time bonus.

Panic

Checked out the translated version of the official site

"With 4 kilometers of the goal, Philippe Gilbert tried the whole for the whole. The Belgian of the Frenchwoman of the Plays, 5th to the classification at 28 seconds, was never going to dig an advantage higher than 10 seconds. He was going to preserve two of them on the finishing line at Ans. Sufficient to ensure a victory of stage, but not final victory."

The Frenchwoman of the Plays?

Complete translated version

TeamPlayers

Let me say that I was watching this finish live and it made me stand up of my couch screaming wtf!!

Panic

Looks like Schumacher did all he could to stay upright.

Starclimber

Stage races shouldn't be decided by boisterous fans in the last 100 metres. This one was, and I think it was a poor decision by the race officials to allow the result to stand.

flythebike

Good idea but there wasn't really time to think of that. Again this wasn't the fault of Schumacher. The fan precipated the problem, and the race jury failed to correct it. The UCI should overrule it.

flythebike

Looking at it again - there is just no way Hincapie doesn't get second in the field sprint, take a 2 second bonus, and win the race by one second.

flythebike

Tell you what though if I'm Schumacher and I want to be really fair, I refuse to take the podium. The fact that he went up that shows you that he is willing to get over on another rider, to benefit from the misfortune that he himself (through no fault of his own) caused.

Panic

They need to set up double barriers. The first set for the actual race, and then another set of barriers a meter or two off the course.

Maybe let photographers get those spots, if they want them.

flythebike

From Cycling News

Hincapie's second place trophy ends up in Zwolle
George Hincapie (Discovery Channel)
Photo ©: AFP (Click for larger image)

Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reports that George Hincapie's trophy that he received for finishing second in the Eneco Tour has ended up in a bar in Zwolle, The Netherlands. Bar owner Theo Dragt got the trophy from Willem Boverhof, a Zwolse journalist who happened to be parked near the Discovery Channel team in Ans after the final stage.

After what happened in the final sprint, where Hincapie saw his chances of victory disappear after a spectator pushed Stefan Schumacher into the American's front wheel, one of Discovery's soigneurs was thinking of throwing the trophy out of the bus on the way home. Boverhof 'rescued' it from an ignominious fate, and it is now ensconced in a bar in Zwolle.

DrPete 

Why on Earth do people have an unfavorable view of Americans in this world? I just can't figure it out....

Pretty funny, though. But you'd think that with Disco's luck being what it is, they'd be pretty happy with that 2nd place trophy, all unfortunate incidents considered.

Snicklefritz

I can understand why Hincapie would be incredibly frustrated (which is probably too weak a word), but
throwing away a trophy is so unclassy.

flythebike

It depends on the circumstances doesn't it?

DrPete 

You're right, but I do think it's a little classless to be throwing trophies away. At some point you just need to brush yourself off, and say as Event Services so eloquently puts it, "that's bike racing."

Would I feel the same way? Probably, but I'm not a pro with sponsors who don't like their logo plastered all over the guy throwing his trophy in the dumpster.