BESANCON, France — Lance Armstrong was unfazed about slipping to fourth place at the Tour de France. Instead, he was riled that his former lieutenant, George Hincapie, was deprived of the yellow jersey — allegedly by a rival U.S. team.
Hincapie, the only man to be a teammate of Armstrong on all seven of his Tour victories, came within five seconds of the race lead in the 14th stage won Saturday by Russia’s Serguei Ivanov.
Columbia rider Hincapie finished the stage from Colmar to Besancon in an eight-man group just 16 seconds after the Russian, who was 5 minutes, 36 seconds ahead of the main race contenders.
Starting the stage as the highest-placed rider in the breakaway group, 5:25 behind leader Rinaldo Nocentini of Italy, Hincapie had a shot to swipe the leader’s yellow shirt.
Instead, as Armstrong and his Astana team claimed, the Boulder-based Garmin-Slipstream squad pressed the pace in a way that helped the Italian hold a slim lead over Hincapie.
Armstrong, on his Twitter feed, took aim at Garmin-Slipstream, which competes with Columbia for dibs as the top American squad at the Tour.
“No one wanted George in yellow more than me,” he tweeted.
“Until 10km (6.2 miles) to go he was solidly in yellow until GARMIN put on the gas and made sure it didn’t happen,” Armstrong wrote.
Hincapie, “deserves to be in yellow tonight. He deserves more than that,” he added.
French TV cameras showed Hincapie as he watched Nocentini’s pack cross the finish line — and he harumphed in frustration that he had not garnered the yellow shirt.
“I don’t know why you would do that with George at this stage of his career,” Columbia manager Bob Stapleton said. “I mean, that’s a victory for everybody. That’s something that would have gotten attention all over the U.S., that would have been good for the whole sport in America.”
A Garmin spokeswoman didn’t respond to calls from The Associated Press seeking comment after the stage.
Sentiment aside, Hincapie in yellow would have meant that his powerful Columbia team would take on the tough job of protecting the race lead in today’s stage — the first ride in the Alps.
At a glance
A look at Saturday’s 14th stage of the Tour de France:
Stage: A 123.7-mile ride from Colmar to Besancon, featuring two little climbs.
Winner: Serguei Ivanov of Russia
Yellow jersey: Rinaldo Nocentini of Italy
How Garmin-Slipstream fared: Martijn Maaskant was the team’s top finisher (fourth) in the stage.
Next stage: Today’s 15th stage is a 128.9-mile trek in the Alps between Pontarlier and Verbier, Switzerland.
The Associated Press
