Armstrong watches usually calm Hincapie blow up on podcast: "Are they trying to sabotage his chances of winning?"

Armstrong and Wiggins laughed at first, surprised to see this side of their friend. But Hincapie wasn’t joking. He was genuinely angry, and his frustration was aimed squarely at Lidl-Trek. “Let me ask: is Lidl-Trek an American team? Or where are they registered?” The others didn’t know off the top of their heads, but the UCI lists them as holding an American license, even though they’re based in Belgium.

That question mattered to Hincapie, because he saw Lidl-Trek, as an American team, do something crazy with American champion Quinn Simmons. “Why are you putting our national champion on the front, when he’s clearly one of the top 20 riders in this Tour de France? He can win a stage, he was in the toughest breakaway of the week, but since the start of the Tour they’ve had him riding the first 50 kilometers at the front every day,” he said rather fiercely, and with a touch of nationalism.

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“Today, he even rode the whole day. Are you trying to sabotage his chances of winning?” Hincapie asked aloud. “Our national champion. I really don't like that. Show our guy some love. Look at Lidl-Trek’s lineup, they’ve got so many guys who can do what Simmons is being asked to do. I don’t get it.” Armstrong added, “Every time you turn on the TV, you see him pulling at the front of the peloton. They’re draining his energy.”

Hincapie is convinced Simmons isn’t playing his role as the first helper by choice. “They’re wasting his energy, without any good reason. It’s a fine job to do, but it’s not what Simmons should be doing. He should be winning a stage in the American champion’s jersey. And he’s earned that with what he’s shown this season,” he said, referring to Simmons’ recent stage win in the Critérium du Dauphiné.

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The suggestion that Simmons was a late addition to the Tour squad didn’t sit well with Hincapie. “He’s the strongest breakaway rider in this Tour. I’m honestly offended they’re using him this way. Is Trek an American company? Then they’re ruining a chance to win a stage with the national champion in top form. He’s a fighter and he’ll keep going and get into more breaks. But now they’ve just wasted his energy.”

According to Hincapie, the sprint in stage 8 was a painful sign that all of Simmons’ work had been for nothing. “I understand that you save guys for a lead-out, but there was no one left for Milan at the end. They brought him to the last two kilometers, but from there he was on his own.”