Stage 14 - Saturday - I'm Firey Hot with Anger

Stage 14 was billed as a race for the sprinters but turned out to be so much more. An early breakaway developed which contained one man of interest, big George Hincapie. George was 5 minutes and 25 seconds out of first place before the start of the stage but not really considered a GC threat so was allowed to escape with the breakaway.

The breakaway succeeded and big George ended up gaining 5 minutes and 20 seconds on the rest of the leader board. This translates to George missing the Yellow Jersey by 5 seconds! Five measly seconds separates George from what could have been only his second ever Yellow Jersey...an achievement of a lifetime...something you gear your whole career towards...the list goes on, this was important.

If it was just 5 seconds, I think George would have been OK with that, but there's more. George's time advantage was run down by the other American Team, Garmin Slipstream, who had nothing to gain and nothing to lose by doing so. With 10km to the finish, Garmin moved to the front of the peloton and closed down a 6+ minute advantage held by the breakaway. Garmin essentially said that they didn't want George Hincapie in Yellow.

George was crushed. You could tell by the end of race interview, that this upset was a devastating blow to him. And 12 hours later, today's pre-race interview showed no real difference.

An American Team Garmin has cheated another American out of the opportunity to wear Yellow.

In my opinion, this was a poor decision by Team Garmin. At no cost to them, they could have assisted one of the Tour's most endearing riders for a day in Yellow. This is George Hincapie's 14th Tour de France. He assisted Lance Armstrong in every single one of his Tour victory's and assisted Contador in his Tour victory after Lance's retirement. George's dedication to the sport is unparalleled, and if you ever have the opportunity to give someone like this a "Thank you" for the years of service dedicated to the good name of the Tour, you should do so. Especially if it's no skin off your back.

Team Garmin chose poorly or more properly Team Garmin's Race Director Matt White chose poorly, and I plan on letting their sponsors (Garmin, Felt, Slipstream) hear about it. Matt White needs to go and if Team Garmin's sponsors aren't happy then Team Manager Jonathan Vaughters won't be happy.


More about George Hincapie if you are so inclined.

So the leader board changes just a bit and here we are...

1 - NOCENTINI Rinaldo - TEAM AG2R
2 - Big George Hincapie - TEAM COLUMBIA - HTC - 5"
3 - Alberto Contador - TEAM ASTANA - 06"
4 - Lance Armstrong - TEAM ASTANA - 08"
6 - Bradley Wiggins - TEAM GARMIN - 46"
7 - Andreas Kloden - TEAM ASTANA - 54"
18 - Cadel Evans - TEAM SILENCE-LOTTO - 3' 07"