The Invisible Hand

I'm quite dismayed at the officials' decision to neutralize the final two circuits of Stage 1 in the ToC. It seems oddly reminiscent of the Paris-Roubaix Controversy in 2006. Though, in the Paris-Roubaix result, I think the correct decision was made, i.e. the rules were applied.

It's very clear that the UCI 3km rule is good for rider safety. What's not clear is when you have officials arbitrarily deciding which crashes should affect the race outcome and which shouldn't. That's what the rule book is for. If officials are to be relied upon to "interpret the rules" (though this particular rule seems pretty spelled out), we might as well have the race run like an amusement park squirt gun game.

Completely disregarding having interpretations, sometimes you have to admit that life just isn't fair and doesn't always play out according to plan. In my opinion, the officials played favorites (here I go with the conspiracy theories again) with possible input from AEG Sports. AEG Sports and each host city stand to benefit from Leipheimer reaching each finish line wearing the leader's jersey. I'm not even going to comment on the apparent fudging of riders' finishing times. In my most humble of opinions, Ben Jacques-Maynes is the current leader of the ToC (well, maybe not now as I type this as I'm waiting until the TV coverage to find out the results of Stage 2).