This Tour seems to have been dominated more by gossip than by racing, contributed to in no small part by a rotten route. The press seems to have whipped up more interest in who is leading Astana or Saxo-Bank than in the race itself. But some riders seem to love nothing more than complaining to anyone who will listen, especially if that person is holding a microphone or a voice recorder.
The battle for the Biggest Whiner in the 2009 Tour de France is going to go all the way to Paris, running down to the wire, just like the General Classification. The competition essentially runs between George Hincapie, Cadel Evans, and Carlos Sastre:
- George Hincapie: “Incredibly disappointed” after missing out on Yellow by 5 seconds on stage 14, due to factors outside his control – namely, negative tactics by his friends at Astana who controlled the gap to his breakaway. “I am just extremely disappointed,” Hincapie told Versus. “I don’t know why Astana was riding behind; it’s highly insulting to me.” Am I the only person who noticed that after Ivanov went, Hincapie looked to the others in the breakaway to chase? Time and again, over the course of the last 10km, he had the opportunity to take control of the breakaway, forget about his own chances of winning the stage, and ride hard and steady in order to get to the line as quickly as possible. The question of the day was where those 5 seconds were lost, and I have not heard anyone say what it really came down to: he lost the Yellow Jersey because he didn’t take control of the breakaway and ride hard to the finish the way a rider who is riding for yellow should have. Lance Armstrong sayid, “Hincapie deserves yellow.” I say that the yellow jersey is earned, not deserved. George Hincapie is just another name in a long list of talented individuals who fail to take control of race situations at the critical moment in order to make their own success, always looking to others and external circumstances to explain their failures. Speaking of which…
- Cadel Evans: “I think I defended well for a guy who was having a horrible day.” As Brett correctly pointed out, poor old Cadel seems to be damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t, but the fact remains that he rarely pulls together the goods when it really matters, a fate that doesn’t seem to befall the true champions. I don’t know why he had a bad day, but his attacks over the previous days where his chances of gaining time were minimal at best probably didn’t help. I’m glad Evans is attacking more, but I’d love to see him apply some tactical sense; I always feel like he’s attacking more to shut up his critics and less to win races. In any case, until he stops complaining and blaming others, I don’t see him notching up the win in any significant race.
- Carlos Sastre: “Do you think that is respectful? I have more respect from the spectators than all of you…” he spat at his press conference today. It all comes down to this: respect is something you earn, not deserve (just like the Maillot Jaune). And Sastre has been going on about not receiving what he perceives as the correct amount of respect for his Tour win last year. Furthermore, he is complaining this this year’s Tour is boring. Hello? I agree wholeheartedly but I’m a spectator. Short of flying to France and sabotaging the race again, I’m not quite sure what I can do to make the race more interesting. As a rider in the race – complaining that riders are not attacking – maybe he can do something about it? Like attack? I’m trying to brainstorm here and I’m really just thowing that out there, but I’m probably wrong. That probably wouldn’t work.
I think Cartman says it best:
[audio:http://velominati.com/wp-resources/audio/602_stopyerbitchin.mp3]
frankThe founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking.
As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it.
Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen.
Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.
View Comments
Thank You. I didn't want to call my boy Georgie a whiner so I'm glad you did. George, put your head down and haul ass for the finish, that would have put you in the Jersey. All this BS about deserving the Yellow Jersey, dog's bollocks!!
How about that Fabian dropping back on the final climb to join the front of the Saxo-Bank train and crush his own bad seffff. Damn that was excellent footage. First Jens goes insane then eventually Fabian is there, he goes ape and from the helicopter shot you see him going 0.5mph after he has pulled off. As I have said before; massive stud.
As for Cadel; a whole lot of pressure(like a continent's worth) on a guy who just might not have the goods to win the Tour. Maybe he should aim at Vueltas and Giros instead. There is no shame in that. He does need a better team to help him, that is for sure. Unless Alberto dies soon I don't see anyone beating him.
Sastre.......I don't know. I got nothing.
@john:
Team Saxo-Bank were amazing with Fabian doing an amazing pull and - yes - he seemed to have put it in reverse after he finished! I can go faster than that!
Horrible, horrible news on Jen's crash today. My blood ran cold seeing that.
Two posts? That does not seems right. Or was it just two of us reading this in 2009. Since writing this I had a chance to drive up to Verbier and see what the climb was like. Not so bad, unless doing it at pro race speed. Also. I was right about HIncapie and Fabs and wrong about Cadel. Not bad, two out of three.