41-years-old, won the stage, in Red. Life WAS good. Graham Watson photo
In case anyone missed it, RadioShack’s Chris Horner powered
uphill to win Stage 3 of this years Vuelta a Espana, taking over the lead in
the General Classification, and thus, the coveted Red Jersey. Seems Jens Voigt is not the only “Old Man” in
the peleton capable of sticking it to the young lads. However, that was where the celebrating
stopped.
Though the Vuelta completed it eighth stage today (now
Nicolas Roche is in the Red Jersey), it seems an American, on an American Team,
at the ripe, old age of forty-one (41) is not supposed to come into the hotbed
of Spanish Cycling and humiliate the Europeans.
So, the Spanish “Race Jury” thought, and they thought, and came up with
one of the biggest bullshit calls in professional cycling: They called an arbitrary
time-split at the finish of Stage 4, putting Horner out of the lead by three (3) seconds,
thus putting one of their own Euro “Good ‘ol Boys” back into Red.
Asked how he felt about the blatant stupidity of the ruling,
Horner claimed that he was OK with the “Decision,” however, as anyone knows, to
have been in the Red Jersey all of this time sure would have been nice, and
rightfully deserved. Instead, the jersey
was awarded to Vincenzo Nibali.
Before anyone thinks I am Euro-Bashing, I too have European
roots, with ancestry traced to the Basque Region (the good side). However, I am not a “Basque-American: I am
simply an American of European ancestry, and the Home-Boys got this one wrong.
Final thought: Alberto Contador could only hope he is that
good at age Forty-One.
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