disco flop
Hincapie wanted to hear nothing from Schumacher at the finish line as he tried to explain why he had to swing wide to avoid the fans. The American filed an appeal with the race jury, but to no avail - Schumacher was awarded the overall victory.
wow ... could this team be kicked in the teeth anymore this year?
we'll see if the race jury changes the outcome.
gotta admit ~ i do feel sorry for that big dimwit.
(anybody remember TREcK Roubaix?)
27 comments:
Georgie has had some bad luck this year! Not the season he was hoping for I'm sure.
Only got a 75 min ride in today due to an early morning meeting that lasted only 30 minutes. I feel for you Hernando.
I see you are registered for Univ RR. Are you up for it?
Yes, the infamous fork breakage! I didn't think Schumaker really did anything wrong from the replay, but that's my take. George was on his wheel locked pretty much all that time, he's got to know that Schumaker will go for the sprint! He waited on Schumaker's wheel too long, he should have gone!
mb ~ not by a long-shot, i reckon.
anony ~ i pre-reg'd for all the ccups back before the sickness. le oops. BUT ... you never can tell.
flandi ~ well said.
was that finish particularly tough? Just wondering why Georgie is left alone to fight for his seconds.
probably because they burned out his team keeping the bunch together.
benlux racing is haaaaaard.
Hinka-pee couldn't get arrested in a riot....just a bad-luck-dude all around. Years from now we'll enter a new verb into the dictionary 'To hincapie', meaning to lose spectacularly over and over again.
VB - There were attacks after attack after the big climb, Saint Nicolas which annihilated what was left of the peloton. George was in the front all the time behind Schumaker and had one Disco boy with him but at about 2km to go, everyone was just attacking left and right. Schumaker tried to get away and had a good gap but decided to go back to the group. The Saint Nicolas climb was hard and steep. George and Disco tried to respond to the attacks to defend the jersey - phew - exciting stuff!
Chris.... Will it replace
'The Munsen'
......thats bike racing
"Years from now we'll enter a new verb into the dictionary 'To hincapie', meaning to lose spectacularly over and over again."
I just sent that to Stacy...she'll get a bigger kick in the ass out of it then I did! GH has an incredible ability to find a way to loose...come on, he is an "ex" field sprinter, he should have been able to handle the situation, or at least not whine about it. If he wasnt such a amazing talent/rider it wouldnt be so frustrating (as a fan)...I still think he should have stuck with being a classics specialist.
Sooooooo....anyone want to comment on the sudden rise of chinese u-23 women MTBers? East German like selection program from a pool of hundreds of millions or EG (or chinese women swimmer) like doping program?
George is a classics guy but is not as smart as the other classic guys that win the classics. George needs to look at his need - a classics team. The classics is an all out race, no holding back and the strong man is the winner like Boonen. George is strong but waits lacks aggression...
Classics requirement: LUCK and POWER...team comes second but if Disco can figure out a way to make team work next year because of lack of luck and power - It could be George's year to win...
my opinion of course...
Flandria speaks the truth...example: 2 years ago (I think), in the final break, Big Maggie rode like a defending champ...he rode to win (ok, it didnt work) while GH just sort of hung on...he never made that all out commitment to win...just waited for the sprint...and we know how that turned out.
weeJoo says:
Sooooooo....anyone want to comment on the sudden rise of chinese u-23 women MTBers?
... PAB hears what you're sayin.
lj - not smart of George...that was last year - George, Boonen and Flecha in the sprint line - Flecha worked like an animal so nothing left for him, George sucked wheel from the start and didn't pull long, had the most rest but Boonen was a better sprinter than him. He knew Boonen was the best among the three - so he should have tried to get away like Magnus - he may have stuck it because he is a good time trialist...that is how Cancellara won this year in Roubaix!
UCI Rule 2.3.036 sayeth:
Riders shall be strictly forbidden to deviate from the lane they selected when launching into the sprint and, in so doing, endangering others.
I didn't see anything about "unless a fan leans out over the barriers". Granted this is "one of those things" and I wouldn't expect Schumacher to ride into the fan and crash but he did swerve and take Hicapie out. And look where Schumacher is. He's out in the middle of the road, he's no where near the barriers which implies that he's moved out a good 6-8 feet.
k - how could he have moved 6-8 feet when the barrier is only about 3 feet away from Schumaker?
he swirved on a turn...
Schumacher NOT Schumaker - duh!
sorry for the mispelling...
Isn't Schumacher the one in the yellow jersey, right in front of Hincapie? He is a loooonnnngg way away from the barriers. Look at all of the riders who are closer to the barriers than him!
I'm with Kevin on this one but when George has the luck he has the luck.
"UCI Rule 2.3.036 sayeth"
ahhhh....life (well at least sprints) were WAY more fun to watch in the pre "Abdujapermuff Rule" days....nothing like a circa 1996 Giro video when your stuck on the trainer in Jan...
Schumacher's original point of origin is about 3 feet away (I wasn't completely clear) from the barrier, which I agree he was no where near the barriers...so if the barrier is about 6-8 feet away from the picture that means Schumacher swirved another 3 feet...there are a lot of swirving going on in the sprint finish!
it looks like jury ruled spectator leaning to far out and Schumacher swirved to avoid him crashing but unfortunately George's wheel touched...
"it looks like jury ruled spectator leaning to far out and Schumacher swirved to avoid him crashing but unfortunately George's wheel touched..."
That's my point though. How can you justify swerving THAT FAR to avoid the arms of the specators? Spectator arms won't reach much more than two feet from the barriers and Schumacher is WAAAAY further away than that.
There are two riders sprinting SIDE BY SIDE between the barriers and Schumacher!
according to the jury, they saw what happened and confirmed his story...oh well
Schumacher looked pretty unenthusiastic about winning, and his post-race interview was kind of the same tone as Bettini had in the Giro when he flattened Baden Cooke....or like in The Right Stuff when whatshisname the actor playing Gus Grissom had to justify bailing out of a sea-bobbing space-pod and was met with grimaces. Take it like a man, says Tom Waits, you're in the slam. Suffer.
OMG - I thought this post was a joke! This team needs a new season.
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