Garmin Slipstream is a Disgrace

Garmin Slipstream is a disgraceful team. After doing no work at all for the entire race, Garmin Slipstream came to the front of the peloton on Stage 14 to reel in American rider Geroge Hincapie. This treachery deprived Hincapie of assuming the race lead and wearing the yellow jersey.

Pathetic. At the conclusion of the stage a visibly angry Hincapie blamed Team Astana for coming to the front of the stage to work when the responsibility of reeling in the break should have been Nocentini's AG2R team. This is true, but as Phil Liggit mentioned on Versus, Astana probably tried to slow down the pace to allow George Hincapie to take the race lead, but things did not work out. There was a danger in allowing Hincapie to gain a large amount of time on a break, he can climb. Astana probably wanted to keep the break manageable. The motives of Garmin Slipstream does not seem so mundane though. Garmin Slipstream could argue that they worked to protect Bradely Wiggins. Nothing more. This argument seems to hold no weight among professional cycling fans, however. Sinister rumors are circulating; Jonathan Vaughters and Bob Stapleton have bad blood. Jonathan Vaughters and George Hincapie have unsettled scores from the United States Postal Professional Cycling Team days when both were domestics for Lance Armstrong during the 1999 Tour de France. In any case George Hincapie is correct when he stated that the race tactics of Garmin Slipstream were beyond belief.

Versus has spent a great deal of time promoting Garmin Slipstream during this Tour, interviewing Jonathan Vaughters on a great number of topics. This must stop, now.

Jonathan Vaughters and Matt White should learn how to organize a team. Men work, idiots ride just inside of the time limit. On the Category 1 Col Villette-Le-Chable, Saxo Bank rider Fabian Cancellara set such a quick pace on the front for his general classification rider Andy Schleck, hammering uphill out of the saddle until he blew up. That is how you work for your team. Bradely Wiggens sat protected behind Cancellara doing nothing. Wiggens' Garmin Slipstream teammates were no where in sight. Jonathan Vaughters should show his team the tape of Fabian Cancellara working for his team as a training guide on how to do things right.

Astana knows how to run a team. Astana runs a train on the front of the group working when the Saxo Bank riders go out the back. Alberto Contador is a protected rider in the pure sense of the word, not an isolated pathetic figure like Wiggins. Where is former reformed Saint David Millar, why is not David Millar setting a leg breaking tempo up the Col like Fabian Cancellara?

If anything, the pure narcissist of Astana is Ablerto Contador who refuses to follow orders and who is so intent on proving to the world that he is so much better than Lance Armstrong that he takes unnecessary risks. Today, on Stage 17, we have a perfect example of this. On the last Cat 1 Col Alberto Contador decided to sprint out of the saddle to attack Frank and Andy Schleck. This move created problems for his own Astana teammates Lance Armstrong and A. Kloden who were both dropped. A blunder as both Armstrong and Kloden were high on the general classification and this created an opportunity for Andy Schleck and his brother Frank to move up on general classification.

However, Lance Armstrong worked to protect Alberto Contador from Bradely Wiggins who could not match the Contador attack, like a loyal teammate is supposed to do. Armstrong was glued to Wiggins wheel waiting for an opportunity to attack. At a severe grade Armstrong sprinted around Wiggins and dropped him like a rock after forcing Wiggins to ride into the wind and pull Armstrong.

Not only did Lance Armstrong drop Bradely Wiggins but on the decent he caught his teammate Kloden. Lance Armstrong tried to pace Kloden to the line. Perfect racing tactics from a team oriented man who is working for the interests of the team, not of the rider, himself. Something Alberto Contador and Garmin Slipstream should use as a training guide.

Enjoy the Tour everyone!