VeloNews Mailbag, Tour de France Rest Day edition

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Less Badger!

Editor,

One can only hope that in the years to come that Lance, being the winningest Tour de France champion of all time, does not turn into a miserable old (unprintable) like Bernard Hinault.

I mean, come on. Everyone is entitled to their opinion (just like I am re: this), but he is just ridiculous. Find something better to do with your time (just like I will after I write this), get off of the stage at the Tour, and take your miserable self somewhere else!!

Matthew R. Bruce,
Bourne, Massachusetts

MUCH less Badger

Editor,

I am not an Armstrong fan and I grew up idolizing Hinault as he won his Tours and dominated the cycling press.

Little did I know Hinault was the French ‘village idiot’ with little life experience and a limited capacity for perspective.

I understand why the French still suffer his ignorance, but why does the the world’s press still provide him an opportunity to display his French farmer’s attitude and intelligence?

Hinault represents the worst of what cycling was. Please don’t give him the honor of gracing your pages again.

Mike Sankey

More Badger!

Editor,

I just read Andrew Hood’s interview with Bernard Hinault. What a breath of fresh air! He told it like it is without apology to Lance or anyone else.

Please print more of the interview with the Badger! ALLEZ!

I’m putting his quote up on my computer: “Just attack!” -Bernard Hinault (2009)

Everett Fruehling,
Mercer Island, Washington

Less Cav’!

Editor,

With his capacity to win, Mark Cavendish has managed to make sprinter’s stages even more boring then they once were. At least in the past the last 5km of these stages were slightly entertaining, with several lead-out trains fighting each other and the identity of the stage winner at least somewhat in question. 

I feel like I’m stuck in the movie “Groundhog Day” everytime I log onto VeloNews to check the headlines. Let’s just give him his own special jersey so we don’t have to watch him win 27 stages in every Tour for the next 10 years.

Patrick Gordon,
Salt Lake City, Utah

Hincapie’s close call: his fault

Editor,

I’m sure you’ll be getting lots of letters about Stage 14 and Hincapie’s close call with the yellow jersey. And like some people I’ve talked to, my main reaction was a bewildered and bitter disappointment in the apparent unsportsmanlike actions of Garmin-Slipstream.

However, what I have not heard any of the commentators or journalists talk about is the fault that lies with George (and his team manager).

Don’t get me wrong – I’ve been a Hincapie fan for a long time – but as I was sitting at home watching the closing 10km, it was clear to me that if he really wanted the jersey he needed to sacrifice the stage win, get on the front of the fragmenting breakaway group, and time-trial his butt into the finish.

Instead, he joined in the back-and-forth tactics which failed to catch Ivanov and almost certainly lost him more then 5 seconds.

Colby Van Vooren,
Corvallis, Oregon

Hincapie’s close call: sour grapes

Editor,

Hincapie is full of sour grapes. Last time I checked this was still a bike race. Personally I never liked the fact the people are gifted wins in one of the hardest sports on the planet.

There is no reason that Hincapie should feel like he should wear the yellow jersey and then to blame other teams for him not getting it just sounds like a poor loser.

Also Hincapie and the media never mention that when Hincapie won the “Queen Stage” of the tour a few years back that he sat on Oscar Pereiro’s wheel all day in the break only to sprint around him at the end. He was not the strongest rider of the day and I didn’t hear Hincapie or others claim foul that day, they only had good things to say about his win. What goes around comes around, he got what he deserved, a day not in yellow!

Forrest Gladding,
Salt Lake City, Utah

Hincapie’s close call: blames it on Garmin

Editor,

After watching the end of stage 14 and listening to all of the commentary over George’s lost 5 seconds I have to say I don’t understand the strategy Garmin was employing! What did they have to gain by keeping George out of yellow for a day? No one, including George, expected the person in yellow at the end of Stage 14 to keep the jersey the next day.

Yes, I understand that Garmin and Columbia are big rivals for top dog status among American teams. That said, both teams have prided themselves on exuding sportsmanship and honesty in a sport that badly needs both.

As far as I can see Garmin blew it on Saturday! They helped sway me to Columbia solidly with what appears to be a petty move that lacked sportsmanship. It kind of looks like, “If we can’t put an American on an American team in yellow, then you can’t either.”

Shame on you Jonathan, I thought you were better than this!

Bill Levey
Reisterstown, Maryland

Hincapie’s close call: our reporters need to watch more TV

Editor,

I think it’s a travesty that your reported story on the Tour’s 14th stage depicts Team Garmin as the executioners of George Hincapie’s yellow jersey hopes.

I watched the 14th stage on live television and it was obvious that Lance Armstrong’s Astana team did the chasing of the break containing Hincapie.

In the final few kilometers Garmin did seem to come to the front but I must say it surely didn’t look like they were hitting the gas; it looked to me, and apparently Phil Liggett, that they were just coming through in rotation.

Armstrong’s denial and shift in blame to Garmin was pathetic. It was obvious to even Liggett who said and I quote “The damage was done out on course, and by that team Astana and no one else.”
 
I understand that Lance Armstrong is America’s premier rider and he has a multitude of fans. But honestly it wouldn’t kill anyone to hear the truth in your report that his team had at least partial involvement at the least.

After Hincapie sacrificed his chances of personal glory for seven years at Armstrong’s service, I think Armstrong at least should have manned up and taken some responsibility for the chasing of his breakaway.

I expected fair reporting from VeloNews, after seeing that some of your competitors were reporting that it was Garmin’s fault that George was robbed of yellow, I came to your Web site and was equally disappointed. I expected better.

Carter Lusk,
Summit, Missouri

Tour de Gullible

Editor,

Only the gullible needed to wait for Sunday to see the outcome of the epic “battle” between Contador & Armstrong.

Both these men and their entire team knew Contador would drop everyone in the mountains. Bruyneel, ever the master of intrigue, kept the press guessing. Astana still has a shot at its original goal – filling the podium in Paris, but it’s harder without Levi. Of course, the Schlecks, Cadel Evans and Bradley Wiggins, among others, may have a thing or two to say about it.

Keep up the good work, especially the live coverage.

Valle Schloesser,
Chester, New Jersey

Hamilton v. WADA

Editor,

I think WADA is making excellent headway in helping to rid the sport of cheaters. For that I commend them.

But the latest news about WADA deciding to beat Tyler Hamilton while he’s already down is sickening. What is the point in going after a man who has already willfully accepted a sentence that would ensure he would never ride professionally again?

I, for one, am tired of doping stories in the peloton. Now we have WADA going after a man who is not even in the peloton anymore and is already serving an 8-year-ban from competition.

It’s flat-out ridiculous. I think WADA would be better served to spend money on catching riders who have not already admitted to using a banned substance, who are not already at the end of their careers, and who are not already serving a nail-in-the-coffin sentence that was willfully accepted in the first place.

Ridiculous!

Mark Yocom,
Albuquerque, New Mexico

FILED UNDER: Mailbag / News / Road / Tour de France TAGS: Tour de France