George Hincapie

George Hincapie (born June 29, 1973) is an American professional road bicycle racer currently riding for UCI ProTeam.

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. Hincapie completed his 17th and final Tour in 2012, which is a record.

On October 10, 2012, Hincapie released a statement on his website acknowledging the use of performance-enhancing drugs and confirming that he had been approached by US Federal Investigators and USADA with regards to his experiences with doping. Later that day a statement was released confirming his acceptance of a six-month ban from September 1, 2012, ending on March 1, 2013, along with a stripping of all race results between May 31, 2004, and July 31, 2006.

Personal life
Hincapie was born in Queens, New York, USA. His father Ricardo, a Colombian, introduced him to cycling, and his first race training was in New York City's Central Park. In 2004, Hincapie, along with his brother Richard launched their own line of sportswear, called Hincapie Sports. He 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).

Hincapie resides in Greenville, South Carolina.

He graduated from Farmingdale High School in 1991.

Career
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 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. He achieved his highest position on the podium with his 2001 victory in Gent–Wevelgem.

His many top 10 placings in these races include 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th (twice), 7th, and 10th in various Ronde van Vlaanderen; 3rd, 4th (three times), 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 warm-up ride during the previous week, he has placed well in that race also, winning the overall in 2004 and placing third overall in 2002.

In 2005, Hincapie showed 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. In the 2006 Paris-Roubaix, bad luck struck Hincapie in the cobbled sector of Mons-en-Pévèle, when the steerer tube of his Trek bicycle snapped, leaving him dangling with no handlebars and crashing heavily. He was near the lead group but had to abandon the race. He later 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.

Hincapie rode for in the 2008 and 2009 seasons, departing Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team shortly before it disbanded. He is easily distinguished from the pack by his large size (1.91 m). His contract with the team expired after the 2009 season, and though there was talk of him joining Armstrong's new, Hincapie signed with for the 2010 season.

2012
In 2012 he set a record by completing his 17th Ronde van Vlaanderen, surpassing Briek Schotte. On June 11, Hincapie announced that he would retire at the end of the season, after 19 years in the professional peloton. On June 30, Hincapie started a record 17th Tour de France. He was allowed to lead the race onto the Champs-Élysées as this was his final Tour de France. In August, Hincapie announced that he had raced in his last event, the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. In his own words: “It's been a long career for me, a good career and I'm proud of it. I'm sad to leave, but at the same time, I'm excited to spend more time with my family and start a new life.” He also said that he didn't plan to terminate all his relations with cycling.

On October 10, 2012 Hincapie announced on his website that he had used banned substances at times in his career. The statement reads in part:

""Because of my love for the sport, the contributions I feel I have made to it, and the amount the sport of cycling has given to me over the years, it is extremely difficult today to acknowledge that during a part of my career I used banned substances. Early in my professional career, it became clear to me that, given the widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs by cyclists at the top of the profession, it was not possible to compete at the highest level without them. I deeply regret that choice and sincerely apologize to my family, teammates and fans.""

The statement came as the U.S. Anti-Doping agency announced plans to release documents related to doping accusations against Lance Armstrong, a former teammate of Hincapie.

Major results



 * 1988
 * 1st MaillotUSA.PNG National U-17 Road Race Champion


 * 1991
 * 3rd Pursuit World U-19 Track Cycling Championships


 * 1992
 * 1st TTT US Olympic Trials


 * 1994
 * Tour de Luxembourg
 * 1st Stage 1 & 4
 * 1st [[Image:Jersey green.svg|20px]] Points Classification
 * 1st Stage 3 West Virginia Classic


 * 1995
 * 1st Acht van Chaam


 * 1997
 * 1st Stage 1 Setmana Catalana


 * 1998
 * 1st MaillotUSA.PNG National Road Race Champion
 * 1st Overall Killington Stage Race


 * 1999
 * 1st First Union Classic
 * 1st [[Image:Jersey green.svg|20px]] Points Competition Tour de Luxembourg
 * 1st Stage 6 PruTour
 * 4th Paris–Roubaix


 * 2000
 * 6th Paris–Roubaix


 * 2001
 * 1st Gent–Wevelgem
 * 1st BMC San Francisco Grand Prix
 * 4th Paris–Roubaix


 * 2002
 * 1st Stage 1 TTT Volta Ciclista a Catalunya
 * 6th Paris–Roubaix
 * 4th Ronde van Vlaanderen


 * 2003
 * 1st Stage 4 TTT Tour de France
 * 7th Overall Tour of Belgium


 * 2004
 * 1st [[Image:Jersey yellow.svg|20px]] Overall Three Days of De Panne


 * 1st Stage 4 TTT Tour de France
 * 8th Paris–Roubaix
 * 10th Ronde van Vlaanderen


 * 2005
 * 1st Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne
 * Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
 * 1st Prologue & Stage 7
 * 1st GP Ouest-France
 * 2nd Paris–Roubaix
 * 7th Ronde van Vlaanderen
 * 14th Overall Tour de France
 * 1st Stage 4 (TTT) & 15


 * 2006
 * 2nd Overall Eneco Tour of Benelux
 * 1st Stage 4 ITT
 * Tour de France
 * Held Maillot Jaune [[Image:Jersey yellow.svg|20px]] from Stages 1-2
 * 3rd Ronde van Vlaanderen


 * 1st MaillotUSA.PNG National Road Race Champion
 * 4th Overall Tour of California
 * 1st Stage 2 & 5


 * 2007
 * 1st Overall [[Image:Jersey yellow.svg|20px]] Tour of Missouri
 * 1st Stage 2
 * 2nd USPRO National Championships Road Race


 * 2008
 * 1st Stage 7 Tour of California
 * [[Image:Jersey red.svg|20px]] Stage 3 Most Aggressive Rider
 * 1st Stage 2 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
 * 9th Paris–Roubaix
 * 5th Ronde van Vlaanderen


 * 2009
 * 1st MaillotUSA.PNG National Road Race Champion
 * 19th Overall Tour de France


 * 2010
 * 4th Gent–Wevelgem
 * 6th Ronde van Vlaanderen


 * 2011
 * 2nd National Road Race Championships
 * 5th Overall USA Pro Cycling Challenge
 * 1st Stage 2
 * 6th Ronde van Vlaanderen