What can be said about a man that is so dedicated to the success of another? After 7 years at Lance Armstrongs side (the only Postal/Discovery rider who has been their for each victory) George Hincapie puts himself in the idea tactical position for Team Discovery and himself. It was a special day on so many levels, the queen stage of the tour (a name given to the hardest stage in any grand tour) the loss of team mate and friend Fabio Casartelli who crashed and died 10 years ago and of course a glories win!
Sundays stage ran from Lézat-sur-Lèze to Pla d’Adet and clocked in just over 205 km, with six hard climbs and a mountain top finish (beyond category) it was bound to be an epic day. George was able to find the sweat spot just as a breakaway escaped and he found himself in it. It was really a great position for Team Discovery as no rider within the break threated Armstrongs overall lead. This allowed two things to happen:
-
George never really took a pull in the breakaway, and understandably so. Heck it was his boss that was the overall leader, George had no care if the break was caught or not.
-
Since George was in the break away up the road Team Discovery had no reason to “chase”. This again was beneficial as the team was able to conserve energy in preparation for the final week of the tour.
The big question of course was “will the break be caught” about one third the way into the stage the early break already had over 15 minutes, I am sure by this point George was getting very warm and tingly! Up the last climb of the day riders in the break away were dropped until George rode up with the only other remaining rider Oscar Pereiro of Phonak.
Oscar Pereiro is a great climber in his own right and the thought as they ride up the last beyond category climb of the day was “will Pereiro try to drop Hincapie” before the sprint finish. However being in the break all day long and working hard to ensure it succeeded left the Phonak rider with little energy to work with as they made their was toward the finish.
In the end Georges burst of speed at the end proved too much for Pereiro and George on by a 6 second margin which also moved him up the general classification as well. It was another great day for the Americans!
Related:
