Hincapie in 2007 |
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | George Hincapié Garcés | ||
| Born | June 29, 1973 Queens, New York |
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| Height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||
| Weight | 79 kg (170 lb; 12.4 st) | ||
| Team information | |||
| Current team | BMC Racing Team | ||
| Discipline | Road | ||
| Role | Rider | ||
| Rider type | Classics specialist/ Climbing Domestique | ||
| Professional team(s) | |||
| 1994–1996 1997–2007 2008–2009 2010– |
Motorola US Postal Team High Road BMC Racing Team |
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| Major wins | |||
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| Infobox last updated on December 8, 2007 |
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George Hincapié Garcés (born June 29, 1973 in Queens, New York) is an American professional road bicycle racer currently riding for UCI ProTeam BMC Racing Team. Hincapie resides in Greenville, South Carolina. He was a graduate of Farmingdale High School in 1991.
Hincapie is most widely known as a key domestique of Lance Armstrong, having been the only rider to assist Armstrong in all seven of his Tour de France victories. Hincapie was also a domestique for Alberto Contador in 2007 and for Cadel Evans in 2011, when both men won the Tour de France. He is one of only two riders in Tour de France history to have raced on nine Tour-winning teams.[1] As of the end of the 2011 Tour, Hincapie has raced the Tour 16 times, finishing all but the first year.[2]
Hincapie has several important wins of his own, starting with Gent–Wevelgem in 2001 and Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne in 2005. Also in 2005, Hincapie took two stage wins at the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré and 2nd place at Paris–Roubaix. In 2005 he also had his first stage win in the Tour de France where, on July 17, he finished seven seconds ahead of Óscar Pereiro to win stage 15 from Lézat-sur-Lèze to Pla d'Adet. More recent victories include two stages at the Tour of California (2006), the overall and a stage at the Tour of Missouri (2007), and another stage win at the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré in 2008. He is a three-time US Professional Road Race champion (1998, 2006, 2009).
Throughout his career Hincapie has targeted the cobbled classics of April, specifically the week that begins with the Ronde van Vlaanderen, continues mid-week with Gent–Wevelgem, and ends with Paris–Roubaix. Since 2001 he has always been a threat to win, although only achieving the highest position on the podium with his 2001 victory in Gent–Wevelgem.
His many other top 10 placings include 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 10th in various Ronde van Vlaanderen; 3rd, 4th (thrice), and 5th in Gent–Wevelgem in addition to his victory; and 2nd, 4th (twice), 6th (twice), 8th, and 9th in Paris–Roubaix. While using Three Days of De Panne as a warmup ride during the prior week, he has placed well in that race also, winning the overall in 2004 and placing third overall in 2002.
In recent years Hincapie has shown a talent for short individual time trials (ITTs), winning the prologue at the 2005 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, placing second three times and third once in prologues in 2006 (including at the Tour de France), and placing second in the short ITT at Three Days of De Panne. He also won the ITT at the Eneco Tour of Benelux in 2006 and placed fourth in two longer ITTs that year. He finished third in the prologue at the 2007 Tour de France and second in the prologue at the Volta a Catalunya in 2008.
His father Ricardo, a Colombian, introduced him to cycling, and his first race training was in New York City's Central Park. Hincapie is married to former runway model and Tour de France podium girl Melanie Simonneau, and they have two children, daughter Julia Paris (born on November 3, 2004) and son Enzo (born on June 20, 2008). In 2004, Hincapie launched his own line of sportswear (see [1] Hincapie Sports) with his brother Richard.
Hincapie rode for Team Columbia in the 2008 and 2009 seasons, departing Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team shortly before it disbanded.[3] He is easily distinguished from the pack by his large size (6' 3", 191 cm). His contract with the team expired after the 2009 season, and though there was talk of him joining Armstrong's new Team RadioShack, Hincapie signed with BMC Racing Team for the 2010 season.[4]
In May 2010, Hincapie, along with several other riders including Lance Armstrong, was alleged by former U.S. Postal teammate Floyd Landis to have participated in systematic doping in the early 2000s (decade).[5] [6]
In May 2011 it was reported that Hincapie, along with Tyler Hamilton, joined others accusing Lance Armstrong of doping by testifying to a federal grand jury in 2010 about their own cheating, as well as that of Lance Armstrong. The CBS News channel program 60 minutes said Hincapie had told officials he and Armstrong had supplied each other with EPO before races and discussed using testosterone. 60 minutes claimed Hincapie had testified to a US federal investigation into doping that he and Armstrong had taken EPO together.[7]
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Bart Bowen Chris Wherry Tyler Hamilton |
USA National Road Race Champion 1998 2006 2009 |
Succeeded by Marty Jemison Levi Leipheimer Ben King |
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