Here's Where Hincapie Lost It

Mike Owens

I'm not Jeff, but I was standing along the series of left-right turns at the
beginning of the Carrefour de l'Arbre section. From Cysoing to the exit of
the Carrefour de l'Arbre is roughly a triangle with Cysoing and the exit ~1
km apart. We could see across the fields the exit of the Camphin-en-Pevele
section where the three leaders (Boonen, Hincapie) were just about to be
caught. There is ~1 km of smooth asphalt from the exit of C-en-P to the
beginning of the Carrefour de l'Arbre section. Don't know what happened
there (PVP's flat?), but Museeuw blew by us on the series of turns with
Weseman first wheel, and Hincapie fourth wheel. Nardello brought up the
rear of this group. 25-30 seconds later, van Petegem passed several riders
in the main chase like they were standing still and was now solo. There is
a long, straight, false-flat up to the end of the section at the cafe
itself. Weseman led Museeuw and the rest of the group off of this section
and onto the Gruson section. I wasn't able to see what happened next while
I searched for someone with a TV. I found a TV just as Museeuw's wheel
change seemed to take extremely long. PvP caught Museeuw and, together with
Weseman (don't know where he fell off the pace either), they formed an
all-star chase at 20 seconds to the leaders. At this point, I believe these
three had had dropped Hincapie (who had fallen off the pace somewhere).
With 30 Belgians gathered in a farmer's field 2 km from the Belgian border
gathered around a 10" black and white TV, you could hear the collective
groan from these knowledgable fans as soon as Museeuw, van Petegem and
Weseman started looking around at each other. I'm almost certain that they
had a chance to catch the leaders with a concerted effort but does Museeuw
and/or Weseman want PvP at the front of the race? 1 km later the gap was 28
seconds and you knew it was Backstedt's race. Van Petegem looked extremely
strong.
-Mike
"Richard Longwood" <richardlongwood@idrink.nog.net> wrote in message
news:107is3c7bue9f99@corp.supernews.com...
> Jeff Jones please describe what happened here.
>
> 17:18 CEST 243km/18km to go
> Boonen, Hincapie and Flecha are now on the 1.8 km Campain-en-Pévèle
sector.
> Huge crowds are cheering them on as a group of three is chasing them.
Hoste
> tries to drive the pace up, but the gap is still 10 seconds.
>
> 17:19 CEST 244km/17km to go
> Hoste is now solo, in pursuit of the three leaders. Meanwhile, his team
> captain Van Petegem has punctured. Bad moment.
>
> Hayman says, "Not sure how Hincapie got there, must have happened with the
> flag thing. Now some long zones. This could be the race, it would be good
to
> see Hoste get back."
>
> 17:22 CEST 244km/17km to go
> hoste is flying and has caught the motorbikes behind the three leaders.
> There are now four in front. Nardello and Bernucci are chasing.
>
> Le Carrefour de l'Arbre is next. Wesemann has closed the gap to the
leaders,
> dragging the bunch up with him. Van Petegem is not there, but there are
> still a good 15 riders.
>
> Van Petegem, Badlato, Aldag, Michaelsen, Schaffrath are chasing.
>
> Museeuw leads on sector 4, Le Carrefour de l'Arbre, with Wesemann on his
> wheel.
>
>