Today was the Tour of Flanders, one of European cycling’s spring classics, and one of the season’s first true tests. This year’s race was won by Tom Boonen, and American hopeful George Hincapie could manage no better than winning the group sprint for seventh. Lance Armstrong finished with the peleton in 28th, and while this was well-reported in the American media what these stories miss is that Armstrong was nothing more than a domestique for Discovery teammate Hincapie. Simply put, Armstrong did not start the race with the intention of attempting to win it. Armstrong was involved in several chases, but his participation was in support of Hincapie. The American press had a similiarly ignorant reaction when Armstrong abandoned Paris-Nice due to illness. Nice was the first race of the season for Armstrong, and was nothing more than a guage of his training thus far. The retirement meant absolutely nothing to his chances in the Tour de France (and it’s also important to note that none of his rivals had even started their racing season at this point).

Posted on 3 April 2005