George Hincapie

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.

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.

He graduated from Farmingdale High School in Long Island in 1991.

He also rode at five consecutive Olympic Games between 1992 and 2008.

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 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.

Hincapie has several important wins of his own, starting with Gent–Wevelgem in 2001 and Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne in 2005.

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

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.

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.

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.

His 2nd-place finish in the 2005 Paris-Roubaix remains the highest placing in that race by an American.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

In 2012 he established the, initially with support from BMC.

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.

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.

He was the owner and general manager of UCI Professional Continental team until it folded at the end of the 2020 season.