By George!

George Hincapie is known as a gentleman of cycling and rightly so. If it weren’t for a certain Lance Armstrong, Hincapie would have probably been the pre-eminent American rider of his generation. As it is, George seems content with what he has achieved, though it doesn’t stop him wanting a bit more, specifically a certain cobblestone trophy. A member of eight Tour de France winning teams, George lives in Greenville, South Carolina after being raised in New York. He has raced the Tour deFrance 13 times and finished all of them except the first. He placed second at the 2005 Paris-Roubaix and has represented his country at no less than five Olympic Games. Bicycling Australia met with George for an exclusive interview at the Tour Down Under where, once again, if it wasn’t for Lance Armstrong, he no doubt would have been the star attraction. But this doesn’t seem to faze George at all. Despite his obvious jet lag and still being in the process of adjusting to summer in Adelaide, he was courteous and softly spoken. We ordered coffee and you can probably tell from the length of the answers when it began to kick in. He wasn’t excited by the distant past, perhaps not wanting to be reminded how long ago it was, but there was never any sense of hiding anything. Rather his maturing of a cyclist was also the time of his maturing as a person who is open as well as honest. But the two things that ignite him the most passionately are talking about his family and of course, Paris-Roubaix.

Bicycling Australia: Let’s start with the early days. I’ve been told to say this in a Bronx accent and see if you remember. Are you ready? It’s “Hey, Stay Outta da Joggers Lane!”

George Hincapie (Laughing), Yep, I sure do. That would be Prospect Park in New York. In the early eighties. There was always someone who would try to start something on the inside.

BA: That would be when you were racing with either TOGA or G.S. Mengioni?

GH: Probably both actually.

BA: I think you had something like a 50 race winning streak? And you had a rivalry with Jim Dougherty who later became a soignuer.

GH: Well, you know, I wouldn’t call it a rivalry (laughs). We were training buddies and we rode together just about every day. So, of course we’d race. But I usually beat him.

BA: And the winning streak?

GH: (George looks down and sort of embarrassingly shifts his weight) Oh, you know, I don’t know the exact number. Somehow I seemed to win most of the races I entered at that time.

BA: So growing up in America, who were your mentors and heroes at the time?

GH: Oh, Merckx of course, Hinault, all the classic guys.

 

 

BA: And in 1991 you went to the Junior Worlds but were a bit of a marked man. Tell us a bit about that race. I think Jeff Evanshine went on to win that race.

GH: Oh yeah, I was definitely marked. I had guys sitting on my wheel all day. Jeff Evanshine won. I had no chance.

BA: So in 1992 you did your first Olympics? What was it like to be representing your country for the first time?

GH: For me, that was the point where I realised what I’d have to do if I was going to make it as a cyclist. To race at the Olympics was a huge step up from where I’d been.

BA: So after that you raced the Tour de Trump in 2003. You won a stage but were later disqualified? Tell us what happened there.

GH: Well, it was a downhill sprint finish. We were going about 60kph and this guy started moving in on me from the right, you know, impeding my forward process. So I put my hand up to stop him and the judges said “You can’t take your hands off the bars”, so….that was it really.

BA: As someone who is considered a gentleman of the sport, is it something you regret.

GH: No, it’s water under the bridge.

BA: Your first Tour was in 1996 where you DNF’d. That was with Motorola?

GH: Yep, that’s the only one I didn’t finish. I crashed and had to get stitches in my head.

BA: You mentioned the Olympics being a step up for you. Was that first Tour de France another step up?

GH: Oh yeah, I suffered like a dog that race. It was terrible. I think I might have even subconsciously been wishing I could crash, it was that bad. It was unbelievable.

BA: What was that Motorola team like to be in? Because along with from ‘7 Eleven’, that was one of the ground breaking teams for America in Europe wasn’t it?

 

GH: Yeah, it was really good. As a young American you don’t get as much

respect as the other guys. Not as much as the Europeans. So that made it

a little more difficult. But as a team we earned that respect. We had Lance

on there and some other respected riders like Bauer and Sean Yates so it

helped me tremendously to grow up when I was in Europe.

BA: People say that Australian riders do so well in Europe because we

grow up without that cycling culture and it makes you tougher and more

ready to work. Is that the case for Americans too?

GH: Absolutely. For us to go there and do that it’s a huge step and a huge

sacrifice. You have to leave your family and make a new life, basically. I think

that’s why a lot of Americans tend to do pretty well once they get there too.

 

BA: Has the recognition that an American rider would get in America

improved a lot since then?

GH: Oh yeah, since Lance won those Tours, a lot more people know what

cycling is, they appreciate the sport a lot more. The crowds at somewhere

like Philly Week or the Tour of California are huge.

BA: Did you have a tough time when you first went to Europe?

GH: Well, I raced one more year as an amateur after the Olympics and we lived

in Italy for the first three years and yeah, it was tough. I was missing home and I

was always thinking about when I could go back. It was very serious.

BA: In Australia we have a stereotype that Americans don’t know much

outside they’re own country.

GH: Oh, yeah, generally speaking, that’s true.

BA Do you think it helped coming from New York where there’s a big mix

of cultures rather than say Texas?

GH: Ummm….no, it was still tough. Lance was there a year before me. He

had a bit of a head start and maybe had things a little more dialled. No

one knew who I was when I got there. So it was hard.

BA: Paris-Roubaix. You’ve come second, fourth twice, sixth twice, eighth

and ninth. Johan Bruyneel says he believes that Paris-Roubaix is somehow

wrapped up in your destiny. Do you still think you can win it? Is it as

much a goal for you at Columbia as it was at Postal?

 

GH: Does Johan say that? Well, it’s all I think about when I’m training through the winter. I know I’m one of the best riders in the world for that race. I just need everything to go right on that particular day.

BA: Stuart O’Grady says that Paris-Roubaix is in his blood now. He says it’s the only race he really cares about. Do you feel the same way? At this point George’s eyes lit up and he sat forward in his seat.

GH: I got to touch The Rock last night! I was at Stuey’s, having a glass of wine or so and I said, “I gotta see The Rock man, I gotta touch it.” It was pretty cool.

BA: Do you use a different bike for Roubaix than you would normally ride? Alu steerer or anything like that?

GH: Yeah, last year we did. And I think we’ll do it again this year. We used more re-enforced carbon and the frame wasn’t as light and wasn’t as stiff.

BA: OK, a slightly pointless question. For many people, if there hadn’t been a Lance Armstrong you would have been THE top US rider for many years. However, you seem fairly contented with what life has given you. Do you ever wonder what you could have achieved if Lance had never come along? Could you have achieved more or do you think US Postal has allowed you to get as far as you have?

GH: Oh, no no no. I’ve been asked that before and I’ve done and been part of a lot more than I ever imagined. Sure, there’s some races that I would love to win or I need to win, but otherwise I’m pretty happy with the way my career has gone. I don’t really need all that attention. It’s not something that I crave. So I’m totally 100% fine with it.

 

BA: So maybe you achieved more with Lance than you might otherwise have done?

GH: Absolutely, I might have achieved less. I mean I’ve been part of history. I’ve done something that no other cyclist has ever done and that’s been part of eight winning Tour de France teams. Nobody else can say that, maybe nobody else will ever be able to say that.

BA: Speaking of the Tour, at Postal, Lance would target the Tour and you would be the team leader at other times. Was that an easy relationship?

GH: Oh yeah, totally. When you ride with someone like Lance, the team needs to be 100% focussed on the same goal. If you weren’t they wouldn’t even bring you. For me, it was never a question. What he could do on a bike was phenomenal. This was the standard. It was our job and we were happy to do it.

BA: With Lance being away during all the lead up races, it was amazing how tactically he was aware of other riders’ form. Was that something that was part of your job?

GH: Ummm……yes. A lot came from Johan and a lot of the on the road stuff came from me. Lance and I are very different and we have a lot of different opinions. But the thing about Lance is he respects people and he respects my opinion. So it was good to have those different perspectives.