George Hincapie

George Hincapie
Personal information
Full name	George Hincapié Garcés
Nickname	Big George
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	79 kg (174 lb; 12.4 st)
Team information
Current team	Team High Road
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Classics specialist
Major wins
	Gent-Wevelgem (2001); GP Ouest-France (2005); National Champion (1998, 2006); Tour de France, 1 stage

George Hincapié Garcés (born June 29 1973 in Queens, New York City) is an American professional road bicycle racer residing in Greenville, South Carolina.

He is often seen as a key domestique of the seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. However, Hincapie does have several important wins of his own, including Gent-Wevelgem in 2001 and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne in 2005. Also in 2005, Hincapie took two stage wins at Dauphiné Libéré and 2nd place at Paris-Roubaix. He is always considered one of the favorites for Paris-Roubaix and the Ronde van Vlaanderen. In 2005 he also had his first stage win in the Tour de France. On July 17, 2005 he finished seven seconds ahead of Óscar Pereiro to win stage 15. Hincapie finished 5:03 ahead of the race favorites including teammate and eventual race winner, Lance Armstrong.

Hincapie signing in at Tarbes during the 2006 Tour de France

His father, a Colombian, introduced him to cycling, and his first race training was in New York City's Central Park. Hincapie is married to former runway model and Tour de France podium girl Melanie Simonneau, and they had their first child, daughter Julia Paris, on November 3 2004.

In 2004, Hincapie launched his own line of sportswear (see [1] Hincapie Sports) with his brother Richard.

Hincapie is the only rider who rode with Lance Armstrong in each of his seven Tour de France victories. Hincapie won his first Tour de France stage on July 17, 2005 in stage 15 from Lézat-sur-Lèze to Pla d'Adet. It was the first stage won by a teammate of Lance Armstrong since 1999, and it was Hincapie's first stage win in 10 Tours.

Hincapie placed 32nd in the 2006 Tour de France, finishing one hour, 11 minutes, 14 seconds behind Tour winner Óscar Pereiro.

In recent years Hincapie has shown a talent for short individual time trials (ITTs), winning the prologue at the 2005 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. He also won the ITT at the Eneco Tour of Benelux in 2006 and placed fourth in two longer ITTs that year.

Hincapie is riding for Team High Road during the 2008 season, departing Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team shortly before it disbanded.^[1] He is easily distinguished from the pack by his large size (6' 3", 191cm).