Stage 15: Results

[William]

:banana: Way to go George!!!! A stage win in the Tour! :banana:


On a somber note, R.I.P. Fabio. (10 years ago, stage 15)



William :)

[Spinsistah]

It was so cool to watch him win the stage. Go Georgie!

[93legendti]

I'm taking up Twizzlers. :D Vino lost more time...shocker...

[Bill Bove]

Son of a ***** :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

I'm about to order some shop jerseys and was going to use another mfr to save a couple of bucks even though the Hincapie stuff we have is great, how can I not use Hincapie again after today :banana: :banana: :banana:

[Tom]

I was alternately laughing like a hyena and yelling "Go, you idiot! Go!"

[Ray]

I was alternately laughing like a hyena and yelling "Go, you idiot! Go!"
I must have been doing about the same thing. My wife heard me from two floors away and thought I was having an actual psychotic event (her words). Better than a win from LA - grab one for his loyal team mate from forever ago. The first stage win for one of LA's team mates in his last TdF. And George looking like he had no idea how he got there - priceless stuff!

-Ray

[GoJavs]

Great win! He's the kind of racer I like. He competes in the Spring and in the Summer. Good for him to finally score one. Now, if Floyd, Bobby, Levi, Chris or Fred could score one....that'd be nice....!

[Tmogul]

The most deserving rider in my mind.

WOOOAAAHHHH YEAH!!!!

He's got only one stage since he always buried himself for Lance but he's got the king of them all in my opinion. I've got Hincapie bib tights.......think I need to get me a jersey.

You couldn't even script a tour like this. Now if only Eki was there to win the final TT.

Go GEORGE!!!!!! :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

[93legendti]

The most deserving rider in my mind.

WOOOAAAHHHH YEAH!!!!

He's got only one stage since he always buried himself for Lance but he's got the king of them all in my opinion. I've got Hincapie bib tights.......think I need to get me a jersey.

You couldn't even script a tour like this. Now if only Eki was there to win the final TT.

Go GEORGE!!!!!! :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

For sure. He was the strongest rider in that break and rode a perfect tactical race.

[Climb01742]

it's amazing how george has transformed himself. to climb as he did today, while still being competitive over the cobbles in april, is astonishing. all i can say is, way to go, george!!

[csb]

he definately did the least amount of work,
but hey thats racing.

[musgravecycles]

Heck Yeah!

I was sitting on the edge of my seat the whole time. George has worked his a$$ off for Lance for the last 7 years, it's about time he gets some...

Congrats George!!!!!

[Kevin]

Way to go Big George.

Kevin

[Dr. Doofus]

right place, right time, right legs to take advantage of it

george did what he was supposed to do -- police the break and not do a lick of work...he was strong enough to do that until the last 300m, and then it was winning time

:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

now, with lance retired and off to changing the nappies while pretending to like sheryl's music (can anyone do more than that?), big george needs to win every stinking thing he can from now on...after july 24 there's no one on that team for whom george needs to domestique...the american jos bruyere?

man I hope I run into george again this winter...and so does the doof

[93legendti]

"...while pretending to like sheryl's music..."

That made me laugh!

Now this guy is an idiot:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2005/tour05/?id=tour0515/cycling-tdf2005-accident-54

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2005/tour05/?id=tour0515/cycling-tdf2005-accident-44

[JohnS]

"...while pretending to like sheryl's music..."

That made me laugh!

Now this guy is an idiot:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2005/tour05/?id=tour0515/cycling-tdf2005-accident-54

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2005/tour05/?id=tour0515/cycling-tdf2005-accident-44
I was hoping the front tire would give him a traumatic vasectomy. His genepool needs to be stopped.

[Johny]

What a stage. Pereiro sat up in the final sprint and gave Big G a gift...they must be good friends now.

[JohnS]

What a stage. Pereiro sat up in the final sprint and gave Big G a gift...they must be good friends now.
Maybe he was tired from pulling the break all day?

[weisan]

Did Richie-sawa advocate the winning strategy of riding on the drops near the finish line?

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2005/tour05/tour0515/2.jpg
http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2005/tour05/tour0515/6.jpg

[Bill Bove]

Black socks on a sunny day are still wrong :no: what a FRED!

[93legendti]

I was hoping the front tire would give him a traumatic vasectomy. His genepool needs to be stopped.

That's funny as well!

[Fixed]

Did Richie-sawa advocate the winning strategy of riding on the drops near the finish line?

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2005/tour05/tour0515/2.jpg
http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2005/tour05/tour0515/6.jpg
Thanks ,Weisan Seeing that today was priceless. Disco. had a day stage win ,the G.C.and the White Jersey

[William]

“I’m in a state of shock right now.” George Hincapie admitted that he had just won the biggest race of his life and it was natural that he didn’t quite know how to handle the attention that was lavished upon him at the finish of the hardest mountain stage of the 2005 Tour de France. It was an inspiring display with so many consequences that George found it difficult to come to terms with the reaction.
He is the first team-mate of Armstrong’s to win a stage of the Tour since 1999 and immediately it was suggested that he could be an heir to the rider who is due to retire in exactly one week.
Even the Discovery Channel team’s director Johan Bruyneel started hinting that it was an option to make Hincapie – a rider who made his reputation in the one-day Classics of Spring but also the only man who has ridden with Armstrong for every one of his six Tour victories – the team captain at next year’s Tour.
“I’m trying to deal with one thing at the moment,” said Hincapie. “I’ve just won the biggest race of my life. Let me think about that first. I’ve been working hard for Lance, and for Johan to start saying stuff like that is pretty amazing. If he wants to give me a shot, I’ll do what I can.”
At last there’s a story about the Discovery Channel team that doesn’t directly relate to Armstrong. Another rider from the Texan’s squad has worn the ‘maillot jaune’ since 1999. But Victor Hugo Pena spent his one day in the lead of the Tour putting carrying water bottles in the prized jersey after the team time trial of 2003 to ensure that Lance was catered for. And even after his success at the ‘hors category’ mountain at Pla-d’Adet, Hincapie explained that he never considered winning the stage until he was given the go ahead from Bruyneel.
“There were a lot of attacks and I thought, ‘If I go with one of these breaks maybe we’ll be able to get a good gap and I’ll definitely be there for Lance on the last few climbs.’ I decided on my own that I was gonna go and I’d wait for Lance but we ended up getting 18 minutes. Once that happened Johan said, ‘Listen George, it’s probably not going to come back so you can do your own race.’
“From then on I started thinking about the win and thinking it was possible and for it to work out is a dream come true.”
On a day that included the climb up the Portet d’Aspet – where Hincapie’s former team-mate Fabio Casartelli lost his life 10 years ago – as well as five category-one mountains before the brutal finishing ascent from Saint-Lary-Soulon, Hincapie should never have been the winner. He has made vast improvements to his climbing form since 1999 but he is such a loyal worker for the six-time champion that he never expected to have an opportunity like the one he was presented with today. But it was no gift. Armstrong admits that he doesn’t like giving them… although that confession 12 months ago probably had a special clause for his good friend George.
“In this team, if you can’t climb well you don’t go to the Tour,” said Hincapie. Clearly he can climb.
He’s now only the eighth American to win a non-team time trial stage and he did so on an epic day in the Pyrenees.
The winning move was instigated 178 kilometers before Pla-d’Adet by Michael Boogerd. The Dutchman had two team-mates to help him over the early mountains and he was there at the finish just like in 2002 when he won in La Plagne. But he, nor anyone else, could distract Hincapie from the goal he set himself once he was given the nod of approval to contest the victory.
“I knew that (Oscar) Pereiro was very strong and also Boogerd,” said Hincapie about the riders who were with him most of the way up to the 1,680 meter high final summit. “They’re both very good climbers. But I also knew that there were a couple of moments when I was pulling on the Galibier (in stage 11) and they weren’t there so I knew that I was around as good as them on the climbs. Once we got away, I couldn’t go past him because there were so many people and there was no room to go. In that situation I just stayed behind him and I knew that if I got to the last kilometer with him, then I could win the sprint for sure.” That’s exactly what happened.
It’s an interesting twist to the story that began to develop in the first fortnight of the 2005 Tour. On the stages to Gerardmer and Ax-3-Domaines, Armstrong had been stranded without any team support. There were chinks in the armory which had carried the Texan to six successive overall victories. Today Lance ended up riding the final two mountains on his own, but he only had to mark one man. Ivan Basso worked his way up to second in the general classification and the Italian is likely to end this year’s Tour in the same position.
Jan Ullrich was able to match Lance and Ivan on the penultimate climb but once Basso hit out on the final col the German’s lights went out. He limped home with the help of one of the remnants of Hincapie’s escape group, Oscar Sevilla.
Ullrich is still fourth overall and the final time trial may help him avoid the fourth place he claimed last year. But his chance to put over five minutes into Armstrong’s lead is now gone. There are hard days yet to come but it’s become clear that Lance has an answer for every challenge that’s presented to him. For now, however, it’s time for the rider in the yellow to join George and figure out the right way to celebrate an unexpected yet momentous victory.

[93legendti]

Exactly. His repsonse was about the same as Georg's the day before.

[ClutchCargo]

Did Richie-sawa advocate the winning strategy of riding on the drops near the finish line?



I was thinking of that post too while watching the final kilometer. eRichie was onto something, eh? Good for George. What a great race, expecially remembering how dissappointed I felt for him this Spring when he got beat at P-R (imagine how he must've felt!). What a sweet race!

p.s. Both the black socks AND the signature shades are cool.

[davids]

Happy boys.