George Hincapie has long been banging at the door of a win in Paris-Roubaix. The American rider was second in the race back in 2005, fourth in both 1999 and 2001, and also sixth, sixth, eighth and ninth on other occasions. When the road is bumping and battering, when the surface is technical and tricky, he seems to be in his element and to cope well with the terrain.
Hincapie is now 37 years of age and will be one of the oldest riders in the field for today’s Classic. Nevertheless, he continues to harbour hopes of winning one of cycling’s biggest events. Fabian Cancellara may be the big favourite, Tom Boonen and Thor Hushovd may be amongst the most-tipped riders, but Hincapie will hope that the collective strength of his BMC Racing Team will put him in a powerful position heading towards the finale. Once there, he will aim to make the most of his chances.
Sixth place in the last weekend’s Tour of Flanders was encouraging, and showed that his form was building well. However he had a real concern when he crashed twice in Wednesday’s Scheldeprijs, scraping his right hip and banging his left knee.
Fortunately, he said on Saturday that things were moving in the right direction. “I'm feeling good about my chances,” he stated, relieved that what was potentially a bad situation had improved. “Our team is strong and we have a lot of guys with experience at Roubaix. I was feeling a bit banged up and battered after my crashes Wednesday, but have been feeling better each day.”
The Scheldeprijs crashes could even work in his favour. Last year Hincapie was fourth in Gent Wevelgem and sixth in the Tour of Flanders, but below par in his favourite race. He ended up 29th, just over seven minutes back, and clearly got something wrong.
“It was weird…I don’t know if I had overdone it in the training and maybe my form had started coming down, but I could definitely tell after 200 kilometres that the legs were not going to be there at the end,” he told VeloNation earlier this season. “That was disappointing.”
This time round, his injuries have meant that he has had to hold back slightly. Although he’s likely to still be a little stiff, he should be fresher at the start and that could be a factor as the race heads towards a showdown. The next few hours will determine if he can finally do it, if he can match Gilbert Duclos Lassalle in lifting the famous cobblestone trophy for the first time at 37 years of age.
Post-Classics programme and Tour:
Whatever happens today, Hincapie has ambitions for the rest of the season too. One target is to try to win back the US champion’s jersey; he won the contest in 1998, 2006 and 2009, and rode well last year despite an accident in the lead up to the event.
There are other races that he wants to show well in too, either for himself or in backing the team’s leader Cadel Evans.
“The Tour of California is obviously important for the team and as an American rider, it is also very important,” he said. “The nationals are a week later, so I hope to still have good form there. Last year I’d a pretty serious crash in the Tour of Utah…I had 20 stitches in my knee. I really didn’t think I would be able to race the nationals, but I ended up going to it. While I obviously didn’t win the race, I was one of the strongest guys there; I was happy to see that I was able to return to good shape, under the circumstances.
“My plan this year is to take a break after nationals, but it won’t be too long as we will do a training camp for team time trial training. I’ll try to rest as much as possible in between the nationals and the Tour of Switzerland, and then use the Tour of Switzerland as a ramp up. Hopefully Cadel will be back to his best at the Tour de France, and hopefully I can do a great job for him there.”
Evans finished second overall in the race in 2007 and 2008; in 2009 he was below his best form, while last year his chances of holding onto the yellow jersey he had taken were dealt a blow when he crashed and fractured his elbow.
This time round, he could end up being one of the clear favourites. He is deliberately doing a lighter programme in the run up to the race, deciding not to ride the Giro d’Italia. The idea is that he will be in peak condition in July, avoid any ‘off’ days and once again fighting for a podium place or higher.
One factor which would greatly change the pattern of the race is if Alberto Contador misses out. The winner in 2007, 2009 and 2010 tested positive last year for Clenbuterol and could be stripped of the latter victory; he could also be absent from this year’s race if the UCI and WADA appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport see him handed a suspension.
If that happens, it would remove one of Evans’ biggest rivals from the race. That would boost the Australian’s chances, but it could also impose big demands on the BMC Racing Team, which would need to assume greater responsibility than if Saxo Bank SunGard had its big favourite.
Hincapie agrees that it would change the dynamic of the race, and for his team. “It would make for a very interesting Tour de France, with the guys that will be there all battling for the victory,” he said. “You can expect a few surprises. With Cadel, you know that if he shows up fresh and fit, he will be there amongst the best.
“You never know how the time trial will go, the team time trial – these are all going to be very important factors in the Tour and if he is on his best form, he can definitely at least stay with the best climbers in the world and he can usually out-time trial them.
“If Alberto isn’t there, obviously the clear candidates to control the race would be Leopard Trek. The first week usually takes care of itself, with the sprinters’ teams leading the peloton. But a team like we have this year will also be willing to take over some responsibility if we see that we will be in the position [to take yellow] – or have a good chance to get into that position a couple of days down the road. I am sure we won’t have a problem taking some responsibility.”
More goals past July:
After dedicating himself to Evans in the Tour, Hincapie will take a small rest to allow the batteries to recharge again. Some riders wind things down after July, particularly some of those who have targeted the spring Classics, but he said that he will remain focussed as there are several other events which are of interest to himself and to the team.
The US nationals has shifted its date to May, but now there are different post-Tour goals to chase. “We have the Tour of Colorado,” he said, listing the first of those. “We will be doing that. And I would love to show up to the Canadian World Cups [the WorldTour GP Cycliste de Quebec and Montreal races] in top shape.
“Last year I went two weeks after my really bad crash in Utah. I rode through, I felt okay considering I was just coming out of an injury, but I really enjoyed those races and I think they are really well suited to my riding style. So hopefully I can show up at 100 percent this year and try to win those.
“I think the courses were spectacular for both of them. Montreal and Quebec, would be really good world championship courses. Very difficult, demanding, great fan base. I think they have all the ingredients to make a great world championship course at some point.”
As regards this year’s worlds in Copenhagen, he said the race is a little too far ahead to plan towards. “I’ve been mentally planning for the Classics and the Tour, and then August and September. If I still feel fresh, I’ll definitely try to go to the worlds to help a guy like Tyler Farrar or event Taylor Phinney. But that is still up in the air for now.”
Confident that next generation is a good one:
The two riders Hincapie mentions are amongst a number which are improving and becoming stronger while the previous wave of American riders are inching towards the day when they hang up their wheels. Hincapie has said that he will do one more season, stopping at the end of 2012. He’s one of a batch of veteran American riders who are closing in fast on retirement.
Former team-mate Lance Armstrong has already called it quits, while Hincapie, Levi Leipheimer, Chris Horner and Christian Vande Velde are likely to stop in the next couple of seasons.
Fortunately Farrar is riding well and continuing to progress; the Garmin-Cervélo rider aside, there are younger American riders who are emerging and who he believes will fly the flag well in the years to come.
“They are absolutely capable of stepping things up,” he told VeloNation, in response to a question about whether he felt the young batch could go on to perform at a high level. “Guys like Taylor Phinney, Tejay Van Garderen, Peter Stetina, Andrew Talansky…there are a lot of names that I am probably missing, but there is a great depth of talent coming up. As long as they stay on the right path and continue to work hard, I can’t imagine them not being successful.”
BMC Racing team-mate Phinney has already clocked up some big results, and is regarded as someone who is set for a big future. The double Under 23 Paris-Roubaix winner will miss today’s elite event this time due to his ongoing recovery from injury, but Hincapie believes that he will be making waves for quite some time.
“Taylor stands out. He is very confident in his abilities and he has adapted really well, integrated really well into the team environment,” he said. “He definitely has all the ingredients to be the next Cancellara, that is for sure. With what he has already done in his past and the power numbers he puts out, he has all those ingredients.
“He is also a funny guy, someone who is fun to be around. I am looking forward to being around him and seeing him succeed in the next couple of seasons.”
What happens after retirement?
Hincapie is still motivated, still hungry, but he’s also preparing himself for when he stops. He and his brother Rich run the Hincapie Sports clothing company and that is something he will work on more when he’s no longer racing head down, backside up in Belgian gutters, over French cobbles and in the Grand Tours.
He’s been working on developing the brand, and since he moved to the BMC Racing Team prior to the start of the 2010 season, the US ProTeam has been wearing his kit. It was one of the factors behind his move there, and gives the Hincapie brand the opportunity to develop the clothing in a real world situation, with direct feedback from pro riders.
That area is one which is of interest, but he also wants to stay directly involved in the sport. “I’d obviously do a lot more with the clothing company. It has been growing quite well over the last couple of years and it is going to be a player in the apparel market for cycling worldwide. I would also love to be part of BMC in some aspect, undecided at the moment. I really feel at home with this team and I would love to see it continue to grow and be successful.”
At one point in time Hincapie seemed almost certain to end his career with the setup he competed with for eleven out of the past 15 seasons. For many years he was an integral part of the US Postal Service/Discovery Channel teams, and was the only rider present for each one of Armstrong’s Tour wins. After the Texan retired, he was even spoken of as a potential successor for some time.
However he left the fold at the end of 2007 and competed with Team High Road/Columbia for the next two seasons. Things remained friendly with Armstrong when he returned to professional cycling in 2009, but the relationship appeared to change somewhat during that year’s Tour.
Hincapie was part of a large break and was in the running for the yellow jersey. While the Ag2r La Mondiale and Garmin Chipotle teams chased hard in the finale and prevented him by taking the Maillot Jaune by five seconds, the Astana team of Armstrong and Alberto Contador had earlier ridden on the front for a long time, limiting the gains. Hincapie was reportedly angry with Armstrong and the team for many months afterwards.
As a result, it was little surprise that he didn’t move to Team RadioShack when it was set up prior to 2010. Instead, he signed for the BMC Racing Team and has settled in there, becoming a core part of the squad and building a relationship which he now hopes will continue past retirement.
As things stand, he’s set to hang up his wheels next season. “I am thinking about doing one more year, 2012, and then calling it quits after that,” he said. “The Olympics would definitely be an attraction. I have done it five times, so it would be exciting to do a sixth one.
“But mainly to do another year with BMC would be great. The main priority in continuing would be to see how the team is progressing and how it is becoming one of the best teams in the world.”
He doesn’t say it, but another reason would be to do Paris-Roubaix one more time He set out from Compiègne this morning determined to chase the coveted cobblestone trophy. Each passing year makes it a little tougher to fight for the win in his favourite race, but he knows that occasionally the younger, stronger riders are outfoxed by experience. Gilbert Duclos Lasalle did it 19 years ago, and won again twelve months later at 38 years of age.
The odds may be long, the chances may be slim, but he’ll see in the Frenchman the chance that the old guys sometimes have the last word. It’s rare, it's unusual, but it’s possible; today, and next year, he’ll focus on that possibility.