By Brecht Decaluwé in Montceau-les-Mines
George Hincapie finished 29th in the time trial. It was not the usual result that is expected from the Discovery rider: "I tried hard until the first split, then I saw that I was behind," he said. "From then on I saved as much energy as possible."
Serguei Gonchar won the race with an impressive advantage on his rivals. Hincapie thought it was a big performance. "It's amazing, definitely. It's his kind of course, though. If you have some power left, you could do something. He puts it in a big gear and just goes, he's very impressive."
Finally, we asked the American if he'd spoken Floyd Landis this morning: "Not today no, but I spoke with him yesterday. I'm very happy for him."