Hincapie comments on Astana move

By Brecht Decaluwé in Montpellier

US National champion George Hincapie (Discovery Channel) wasn't surprised by the Astana acceleration in the Camargue regional park during stage 11. Nevertheless, it was clear that it wasn't an easy day out there.

"It was very hard in the beginning. It was very hard for us. There was a breakaway with 20 guys, and we had to chase it down," Hincapie explained to Cyclingnews. "When the breakaway was finally gone, the crosswinds handed Astana the tool to make the peloton suffer."

"Everybody relaxed in the feed zone and then Astana did a very unexpected attack. I wouldn't guess that they accelerated because [Christophe] Moreau was back there. Vino was probably feeling better, and he's probably going to attack every day. We will see a lot more of that," the Hincapie predicted.

Discovery Channel joined the Astana fairly early on when the echelons were formed but a little later, the team dropped back. Hincapie explained, "It was so hard for us to stay in the front that we decided to put only one guy there.