steve said:
On 17-Jul-2005, smacked up and reeling, Last2Know <[email hidden]>
blindly formulated
the following incoherence:
Quoted message said:I don't think it was possible to predict who would survive the
final climb together, much less in any shape to sprint.
True, but not the point, I think. Both circumstance and reputation made GH
the obvious favorite, even if he secretly was toasted...which he obviously
wasnt. Pereiro had to act as if GH was the stronger if it came to the last
100M, and he did just that to the best of his momentary ability. And if GH
was toast, then P. would have discovered that quickly after a couple of
attacks, so the safe assumption is George wins in a sprint. And if the
others had been strong enough to attack, you can bet all eyes would go to
George to take up the chase. And if GH was under attack he probably would
take up the chase because he knows himself to be the strongest sprinter in
that bunch and no chase means a lost opportunity. It's either chase and
hope you've still got it, or watch the attack go up the road. For the
others it's let George chase, or lose to George if you chase with the big
guy on your wheel. Of course, if they thought GH was really toast, they
might chase anyway. But circumstances said otherwise.
It sounds like you are positing that GH is the best climber and the
best sprinter in that group and OP should have known that,
while the o.p. of this thread is positing that P was the strongest
and GH robbed him of his deserved victory with unsportsmanlike
tactics. I'm agnostic about who was actually strongest overall,
but it's clear in the event, that if OP's goal was to get the
stage win at all costs and if he hurt his chances of beating
GH at the finish by pulling so much, he would have had a
better shot if he had taken more turns at the back over the
last 25km so he was fresher at the end to attack successfully.
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:Pereiro was successful in getting rid of Boogard, Sevilla,
Brochard, and Caucchioli...but Hincapie was also able to do
that while expending less effort. So it was a pretty good
race by Pereiro, but a better one by Hincapie. If Pereiro
had been able to predict that Hincapie was the strongest
or second strongest next to him, then he should have and
probably would have taken Hincapie's wheel for a while.
That's the thing, though...GH was probably comfortable with the group
arriving together and was unlikely to attack or take a pull.
But OP would have been fresher for the end if somebody else was
pulling GH over the last 25Km, so his attacks would have had
a better chance for success.
Quoted message said:P. simply had
to try to drop GH with accelerations...from the front, unfortunately. But
GH was too strong.
But I agree with the bottom line. P. did all he could under the
circumstances and had to settle for second. Sometimes you just cant win.
After reading additional material from post-race comments on-line,
I've learned that the bulk of OPs complaint about Hincapie concerned
what happened at the very end, after they had dropped the other
riders, rather than over the last 25Km. Apparently, they had
verbally agreed to work together to stay out front at that point,
and then GH didn't do any pulls. GH says that the crowd
made the road so narrow he couldn't even go around OP at that
time. Also, OP kept riding harder than he needed to because he
couldn't hear from his radio that the others were far enough back
to no longer be a threat.
