Cracking at the Tour
Well, yesterdays stage was EPIC. It sure has made for an entertaining Tour, and I feel like ranting about a couple of points after reading around the web a bit.
Landis 'gifting' the jersey
I'm getting tired of seeing people criticizing Phonak for giving away the jersey to Pereiro after he got away in a 30 minute break.
The reason it's getting tiring is thus: if Landis hadn't had a bad day yesterday, he would be in yellow. The half hour to Oscar would be moot. Regardless of what anybody did, if Landis did what Armstrong did over the last few years - that is, get the yellow and then keep your enemies in check - he would have won this Tour de France.
It's a tried and true method that has worked for Lance for several years now. It does require that you do not crack, and that you can keep you enemies in check. If he was able to ride with his competitors - and until yesterdays stage it looked like he could - all Landis had to do was sit in and he was there.
Anyways, at this stage, Pereiro is in yellow, sure, but it could have been any of the 10 guys in front of Landis. Pereiro happens to be the lucky one and from this vantage point, it's the teams of the guys placed 2-10 who look silly for letting that half hour open up, not Phonak!
Where's George?
I feel sorry for Hincapie, and the reason is that I think that media hoo-haw had pushed his expectations waaay too high. Look at years past and what has George done, really?
Sure, he helped Lance, he finished high in some stages, won a mountain top finish after sitting in almost the whole way and does well against the clock. But does this make him a 3 week favourite? Not in my eyes and I wonder how much people's expectations have helped make deeper the mental hole he now finds himself in.
Some last thoughts
Reading what Landis had to say after today was quite refreshing. He is a no bullshit kinda guy, and it shows. He's not getting into anything silly with the media either, which is very refreshing.
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