George Hincapie

George Anthony Hincapie (born June 29, 1973) is an American former racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 1994 and 2012. Hincapie was a key domestique of Lance Armstrong. 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 was the owner and general manager of UCI Professional Continental team until it folded at the end of the 2020 season.

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 about 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.

Hincapie started a record 17 Tours, however, after his doping admission he was retroactively disqualified from the 2004, 2005 and 2006 Tours. The only Tour he started but did not finish was his first. He completed his 16th and final Tour in 2012, which tied Joop Zoetemelk's record of completed Tours. However, following the outcome of the Armstrong investigation, the record reverted to Zoetemelk. He also rode at five consecutive Olympic Games between 1992 and 2008.

Early life
Hincapie was born in Queens, New York, United States. His father Ricardo, a native of Colombia, introduced him to cycling, and his first race training was in New York City's Central Park. He graduated from Farmingdale High School in Long Island in 1991.

Cycling 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 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 climber Óscar Pereiro to win Stage 15 from Lézat-sur-Lèze to Pla d'Adet. In January 2014, Pereiro acknowledged in a radio show that during the final climb, Hincapie turned his head and said 50,000, which Pereiro assumed was in Euros, although Hincapie was referring to U.S. dollars. Pereiro accepted the offer and sold the stage to Hincapie. The deal was closed some kilometers before arriving to the finish line. 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 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 Tour of Flanders, 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 2nd-place finish in the 2005 Paris-Roubaix remains the highest placing in that race by an American.

His many top 10 placings in these races include 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th (twice), 7th, and 10th in various Tour of Flanders; 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.

In 2012 he established the, initially with support from BMC. He also set a record by completing his 17th Tour of Flanders, 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. Following his retirement, Hincapie opened a bed and breakfast in Travelers Rest, South Carolina with his brother.

In March, 2017, Hincapie turned to mountain biking and competed in the Masters category at the eight-day Absa Cape Epic stage race in South Africa over 641 km. The race is held in a two-person team format and Hincapie and partner Cadel Evans – reunited after Hincapie helped Evans to win the 2011 Tour de France – won the category.

Doping
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

 * 1992
 * 1st MaillotUSA.PNG Team time trial, National Road Championships


 * 1994
 * 2nd Overall Tour de Luxembourg
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stages 1 & 4
 * 4th Classic Haribo


 * 1995
 * 1st Acht van Chaam
 * 3rd Reading Classic
 * 10th Philadelphia International Championship


 * 1997
 * 5th Reading Classic


 * 1998
 * 1st MaillotUSA.PNG Road race, National Road Championships
 * 1st Philadelphia International Championship
 * 2nd Reading Classic
 * 5th Lancaster Classic


 * 1999
 * 1st Reading Classic
 * 1st Stage 6 PruTour
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification, Tour de Luxembourg
 * 3rd Lancaster Classic
 * 4th Gent–Wevelgem
 * 4th Paris–Roubaix
 * 5th HEW Cyclassics
 * 9th Milan–San Remo
 * 9th Philadelphia International Championship


 * 2000
 * 3rd Reading Classic
 * 4th Trofeo Luis Puig
 * 5th Philadelphia International Championship
 * 6th Paris–Roubaix
 * 7th Lancaster Classic
 * 8th Road race, Olympic Games


 * 2001
 * 1st Gent–Wevelgem
 * 1st San Francisco Grand Prix
 * 2nd Lancaster Classic
 * 3rd Overall Tour de Picardie
 * 3rd Philadelphia International Championship
 * 4th Paris–Roubaix
 * 9th Milan–San Remo


 * 2002
 * 1st Stage 1 (TTT) Volta Ciclista a Catalunya
 * 2nd Classic Haribo
 * 3rd Gent–Wevelgem
 * 3rd Overall Volta ao Algarve
 * 4th Tour of Flanders
 * 5th HEW Cyclassics
 * 5th Philadelphia International Championship
 * 6th Paris–Roubaix
 * 9th Lancaster Classic


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


 * 2004
 * 1st Jersey white.svg Overall Three Days of De Panne
 * 4th Gent–Wevelgem
 * 5th Overall Paris–Nice
 * 8th Paris–Roubaix
 * 10th Tour of Flanders


 * 2004
 * 1st Stage 4 (TTT) Tour de France
 * 3rd San Francisco Grand Prix
 * 5th Grand Prix Eddy Merckx


 * 2005
 * 1st Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne
 * 1st GP Ouest–France
 * Tour de France
 * 1st Stages 4 & 15
 * Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
 * 1st Stages 1 & 7
 * 2nd Paris–Roubaix
 * 6th Brabantse Pijl
 * 7th Tour of Flanders


 * 2006
 * 3rd Tour of Flanders
 * 4th Overall Tour of California
 * 1st Stages 2 & 5
 * 5th Gent–Wevelgem
 * 8th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
 * Tour de France
 * Held Jersey yellow.svg after Stages 1–2


 * 2006
 * 1st MaillotUSA.PNG Road race, National Road Championships
 * 2nd Overall Eneco Tour
 * 1st Stage 4 (ITT)
 * 9th Clásica de San Sebastián


 * 2007
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Tour of Missouri
 * 1st Stage 2
 * 2nd Road race, National Road Championships


 * 2008
 * 1st Stage 2 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
 * 1st Stage 7 Tour of California
 * 4th Overall Tour of Missouri
 * 5th Tour of Flanders
 * 9th Paris–Roubaix
 * 9th Overall Three Days of De Panne


 * 2009
 * 1st MaillotUSA.PNG Road race, National Road Championships
 * 8th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen


 * 2010
 * 4th Gent–Wevelgem
 * 6th Tour of Flanders


 * 2011
 * 2nd Road race, National Road Championships
 * 5th Overall USA Pro Cycling Challenge
 * 1st Stage 2
 * 6th Tour of Flanders


 * 2017
 * 1st Jersey blue Cape Epic.svg Overall Masters Cape Epic (with Cadel Evans)

Personal
He is married to former runway model and Tour de France podium girl Melanie Simonneau, and they have three children, daughter Julia Paris (born on November 3, 2004), son Enzo (born on June 20, 2008), and son Lucca (born on May 16, 2014). Hincapie resides in Greenville, South Carolina.