HTC-Columbia

When George Hincapie decided to go in a long breakaway Saturday, he never thought he would be competing for the yellow jersey.

But as the time gaps grew and the finish got closer, that dream began to look more like a reality on the run into Bensancon. Then, the nightmare began.

A quickening of the pace, first by Astana, then by AG2R and Garmin, eventually shut down Hincapie's advantage and he missed the race lead by only a few seconds. His disappointment at the finish was obvious.

Afterward, in an interview with Versus, Hincapie blasted both Garmin and Astana, saying they had absolutely no motivation to chase the break down, unless they simply wanted him to stay out of yellow. However, others have said that was absolutely not the case.

Johan Bruyneel, director of Astana, said it would have been ideal to have the Columbia Highroad rider in front at the start of Sunday's mountain stage. Lance Armstrong said no one would have liked to have seen Hincapie in yellow more than him.

Armstrong said his team did take a turn at the lead, but only to keep the break at a manageable level. He said it was never his team's intention to close the gap so much that Hincapie lost the lead on the road. Rather, he blamed Garmin for that.

The tension between Garmin and Columbia has been building ever since the Giro d'Italia. The Tour de France just represents a different field of battle.

For their part, Garmin said they were just riding at the front to keep out of trouble and the pace kept pushing them along.

Given the history, there is reason to doubt that explanation. There is no reason to doubt Astana's.

Still, cycling is an individual sport as well as a team sport. You are rewarded for getting to the collective finish lines in the least amount of time in stage races—and Hincapie didn't do that. In some ways, that comes back on him.

Certainly, it was a disappointment and represented Hincapie's best chance to get a second, and likely last, yellow jersey in his career.

It may be the Tour de France, but two American teams and their growing rivalry are making this race variegated, textured, and fascinating. It is becoming one for the ages.

Columbia-HTC boasts dynamite sprinter Mark Cavendish, from the Isle of Man, who has won four, nearly five, stages this year and has worn the green jersey for several days.

With strong, organized leadout support and legs of iron, Cavendish is nearly impossible to beat in bunch sprints.

Impossible, that is, unless your name is Tyler Farrar.

American Farrar is riding for Garmin-Slipstream in his first TDF. He seems to be one of the only men consistently capable of beating Cavendish at the line. Thor Hushovd (of Cervélo) is the only other true threat this year.

While he was soundly outmuscled in stage 10, finishing perhaps six lengths behind, the next day under less favorable conditions, Farrar was just a wheel behind Cav at the finish.

Garmin is a young team, and has two overall lead contenders in the top ten in Bradley Wiggins and Christian Vande Velde.

Columbia-HTC’s priority in this Tour is to make sure Mark Cavendish is in contention for every sprint finish.

Today in stage 14, however, they were faced with a pleasant surprise: Veteran George Hincapie vying for the yellow jersey.

Hincapie is respected for his steady leadership and teamsmanship, in addition to being Lance Armstrong’s lieutenant in all seven of his Tour wins.

Hincapie broke away today in group of a dozen, riding strongly, but wound up five seconds shy of seizing yellow from Rinaldo Nocentini of Team AG2R.

Nonetheless, he leapfrogged over Astana’s Contador and Armstrong into second overall.

In part, today’s shortfall happened because Garmin paced the peloton to make up time on the breakaway pack.

Columbia is equated with its marquee rider, Cavendish, despite the presence of Hincapie and other outstanding GC contenders like Kim Kirchen.

Tony Martin has also emerged as a well-rounded rider, currently sitting in eighth overall.

Columbia had the weird problem of pacing the peloton to allow the breakaway enough lead time for Hincapie to grab yellow, and then organizing into their typical precision leadout formation for Cavendish to win the finish line sprint.

Complicating matters, Cavendish’s position was relegated to the rear of the peloton following a complaint by Hushovd, upheld by officials, that Cavendish squeezed him into the barrier.

If Garmin could choreograph leadouts for Farrar like Columbia does while controlling the final approach, it is likely Farrar can beat Cavendish. He has beaten him, once, at Tirreno-Adriatico earlier this year.

However, until the team is restructured toward that main purpose, it will be very difficult, unless Cavendish beats himself.

In the meantime, we are being treated to what’s becoming an epic rivalry between two American teams, even if they ultimately finish behind Astana.

The Centenary edition of the Giro d'Italia is now on the road. 

Today's opening stage consisted of a team time trial around the historic city of Venice. Over the next three weeks, the riders will take on 21 stages covering over 3,000 kilometers. 

Team Garmin-Slipstream had been banking highly on this stage.  Last year, they won the opening TTT by six seconds and put their leader, Christian Vande Velde, into the overall leader's Maglia Rosa (pink jersey).  Their team director, Johnathan Vaughters, had said as recently as yesterday that "Our season starts [Saturday]," signifying their intense focus on this particular stage.

So much hype, though, may have worked to undermine them.  Team Garmin may have used up some of their talent in Danny Pate and David Millar a bit too early and lost speed towards the end.  They ended the day in second.

Coming home with the win today was the powerhouse Columbia team of Mark Cavendish.  The boys in yellow steamrolled around Venice, averaging a staggering 56 kph for the 20.5 kilometer course.

Mark Cavendish was the first of his teammates to cross the line, meaning that he becomes the first wearer of the 2009 Giro's maglia rosa leader's jersey.  His is also the first British rider to wear the jersey. 

Coming in second on the day were the Garmin-Slipstream hopefuls at six seconds adrift.  Rounding out the podium was the squad of Astana, led home by Lance Armstrong, at 13 seconds behind.  Astana limited the damage as well as came in ahead of some key overall contenders, setting up their leader Levi Leipheimer well for the coming mountain stages.

Tomorrow's stage is designed for the sprinters, and should see a head-to-head showdown between star sprinters Cavendish and Alessandro Petacchi (LPR-Brakes).

George Hincapie may not conjure up thoughts of yellow jerseys or stuffed lions, but he signifies even more important qualities in pro cycling: teamwork and loyalty.

He has managed to forge the less glamorous aspects of cycling in some inner crucible to create the essence of the best of cycling. Endless hard work and training, sacrifice, and sublimation of that all-powerful motivator: ego.

The word domestique, used to define a team support rider, literally means “servant” and evokes household help more than laureled athlete.

Yet in cycling, the institution of the phrase “super-domestique” has boosted the role’s status closer to that of an all-pro offensive lineman in football.

Hincapie served in this capacity during Lance Armstrong’s seven Tour de France wins with Discovery and before that, US Postal, pacing and protecting the team leader, particularly in climbs.

When he led out for Armstrong, there was the sense of the inevitable—if not glory, then dead serious intent. And he rode in support of winner Alberto Contador in 2007.

Invariably referred to as “Big George Hincapie” for his 6’3” height, the 35-year-old has come to define the magnitude and heroic stoicism of being a loyal lieutenant, even at the possible expense of individual wins.

But wins are good, too.

The US champion and five-time Olympian has won his share of races and stages, including in the Tour de France and Dauphiné Libéré. He is a feared short time trialist as well.

He went into this past weekend’s Tour of Flanders as a true contender for his current team, Columbia Highroad. He wound up vying late in the race for a podium spot, only to become collateral damage in a crash approaching the finish.

Team Columbia Highroad is committed to being a leader in clean racing. The team’s members also skew it toward one of the younger pro squads, including explosive sprinter Mark Cavendish.

Hincapie’s experience and leadership will no doubt become invaluable to balance the young talent, which also includes yellow jersey contender Kim Kirchen.

Though Hincapie now resides in South Carolina, he was born in Queens, New York, and credits his weekend family rides in the city for helping to develop his road awareness.

He rides in Paris-Roubaix on April 12, the Tour de Suisse in June, and his 14th Tour de France in July. He is in excellent condition this season, so keep an eye peeled for Big George, hard at work.

The cycling world is a-buzz, or perhaps more accurately in this age, a-“Twitter” with the promise foretold by Tyler Farrar’s surprising win in the third stage of Tirreno-Adriatico last week.

Judging from the photos, no-one was more surprised than a certain mister Cavendish.  I’m sure he would rather see the pictures of him looking astonished to his left as Tyler edged past him in the final meters disappear from the web.  Cavendish was as disappointed as much as Farrar was elated at having let this one slip.

But let’s break it down.  There are many complex variables in a sprint, a critical one being “luck”—or the ability to make one’s own luck.  Farrar made his own luck in textbook fashion to notch “the biggest win” of his career to date. 

To be sure, Farrar is a sprinter.  He’s won sprints before and will again.  But it has never been against such a potent gathering of the world’s best.  That he outfoxed, outkicked, and outlasted the likes of Boonen, McEwen, Hunter, Hushovd, Petacchi,—and, oh yeah, Cavendish—should not be discounted. 

But nor does it necessarily announce the arrival of the next great sprinting hope and the demise of the greats.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.  This was one sprint in one multi-stage race.  The stars aligned for Tyler this time and he pulled a coup of great magnitude, but he must prove consistency against this caliber of greats before we necessarily become as excited as he is. 

Even Farrar noted that Cavendish slowed towards the end allowing him to slip past.  Was Cavendish legitimately spent having mis-timed and gone for it too early, or did he think he had yet another sprint in the bag and just let down his guard a fraction—and a fraction too early? 

The photos suggest that Cavendish was full on the gas and Farrar was simply the fastest man on the day.

But to make this a regular occurrence vs. isolated incident, the Garmin Chipotle team needs to gel a bit more as a lead-out unit for Farrar.  The edge goes to Team Columbia in this regard as they’ve had more practice, and a more singular focus in launching Cavendish from their train as the Big Engine That Could. 

Plus, they’ve arguably got more battle-hardened booster stages for Cav in the likes of Eisel, Hagen, and Griepel.

And even aging Hincapie has been known to mix it up in the sprint (he was the second highest-placed Team Columbia rider on this stage).  They let one get away this time, and trust me, they’ll be reviewing the game tapes, but they’re not panicking.  Yet.

Garmin Chipotle has the building blocks of talent, and Vaughters has the intellect and ingenuity (read “moxie”) to put it together and make it happen.  They are perhaps a season or so away from truly establishing their formula in this aspect of racing. 

Or at least taking their current sprinting construct to the top ranks of the world’s stage and dishing out another royal, nose-thumbing smack down. 

Vaughters’ renegade, scrappy approach needs a bit of smoothing out to make Farrar’s win truly replicable, and Garmin Chipotle’s sprint successes more the norm rather than the exception at this level, against the sport’s top sprinters.

Is this the one and only time we’ll hear from Farrar?  No.  Should the current top-rank sprinters take note?  Indeed.  Should we be more excited than ever for these types of sprint finishes?  Youbetcha.