Here's Where Hincapie Lost It

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" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

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.

Quoted message said:

Huge crowds are cheering them on as a group of three is
chasing them.

Hoste

Quoted message said:

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

Quoted message said:

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,

Quoted message said:

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.