THE RACE LIVE

The film of the stage

Hincapie’s Stage Of Shock

“I’m in a state of shock right now.” George Hincapie admitted that he had just won the biggest race of his life and it was natural that he didn’t quite know how to handle the attention that was lavished upon him at the finish of the hardest mountain stage of the 2005 Tour de France. It was an inspiring display with so many consequences that George found it difficult to come to terms with the reaction.
He is the first team-mate of Armstrong’s to win a stage of the Tour since 1999 and immediately it was suggested that he could be an heir to the rider who is due to retire in exactly one week.
Even the Discovery Channel team’s director Johan Bruyneel started hinting that it was an option to make Hincapie – a rider who made his reputation in the one-day Classics of Spring but also the only man who has ridden with Armstrong for every one of his six Tour victories – the team captain at next year’s Tour.
“I’m trying to deal with one thing at the moment,” said Hincapie. “I’ve just won the biggest race of my life. Let me think about that first. I’ve been working hard for Lance, and for Johan to start saying stuff like that is pretty amazing. If he wants to give me a shot, I’ll do what I can.”
At last there’s a story about the Discovery Channel team that doesn’t directly relate to Armstrong. Another rider from the Texan’s squad has worn the ‘maillot jaune’ since 1999. But Victor Hugo Pena spent his one day in the lead of the Tour putting carrying water bottles in the prized jersey after the team time trial of 2003 to ensure that Lance was catered for. And even after his success at the ‘hors category’ mountain at Pla-d’Adet, Hincapie explained that he never considered winning the stage until he was given the go ahead from Bruyneel.
“There were a lot of attacks and I thought, ‘If I go with one of these breaks maybe we’ll be able to get a good gap and I’ll definitely be there for Lance on the last few climbs.’ I decided on my own that I was gonna go and I’d wait for Lance but we ended up getting 18 minutes. Once that happened Johan said, ‘Listen George, it’s probably not going to come back so you can do your own race.’
“From then on I started thinking about the win and thinking it was possible and for it to work out is a dream come true.”
On a day that included the climb up the Portet d’Aspet – where Hincapie’s former team-mate Fabio Casartelli lost his life 10 years ago – as well as five category-one mountains before the brutal finishing ascent from Saint-Lary-Soulon, Hincapie should never have been the winner. He has made vast improvements to his climbing form since 1999 but he is such a loyal worker for the six-time champion that he never expected to have an opportunity like the one he was presented with today. But it was no gift. Armstrong admits that he doesn’t like giving them… although that confession 12 months ago probably had a special clause for his good friend George.
“In this team, if you can’t climb well you don’t go to the Tour,” said Hincapie. Clearly he can climb.
He’s now only the eighth American to win a non-team time trial stage and he did so on an epic day in the Pyrenees.
The winning move was instigated 178 kilometers before Pla-d’Adet by Michael Boogerd. The Dutchman had two team-mates to help him over the early mountains and he was there at the finish just like in 2002 when he won in La Plagne. But he, nor anyone else, could distract Hincapie from the goal he set himself once he was given the nod of approval to contest the victory.
“I knew that (Oscar) Pereiro was very strong and also Boogerd,” said Hincapie about the riders who were with him most of the way up to the 1,680 meter high final summit. “They’re both very good climbers. But I also knew that there were a couple of moments when I was pulling on the Galibier (in stage 11) and they weren’t there so I knew that I was around as good as them on the climbs. Once we got away, I couldn’t go past him because there were so many people and there was no room to go. In that situation I just stayed behind him and I knew that if I got to the last kilometer with him, then I could win the sprint for sure.” That’s exactly what happened.
It’s an interesting twist to the story that began to develop in the first fortnight of the 2005 Tour. On the stages to Gerardmer and Ax-3-Domaines, Armstrong had been stranded without any team support. There were chinks in the armory which had carried the Texan to six successive overall victories. Today Lance ended up riding the final two mountains on his own, but he only had to mark one man. Ivan Basso worked his way up to second in the general classification and the Italian is likely to end this year’s Tour in the same position.
Jan Ullrich was able to match Lance and Ivan on the penultimate climb but once Basso hit out on the final col the German’s lights went out. He limped home with the help of one of the remnants of Hincapie’s escape group, Oscar Sevilla.
Ullrich is still fourth overall and the final time trial may help him avoid the fourth place he claimed last year. But his chance to put over five minutes into Armstrong’s lead is now gone. There are hard days yet to come but it’s become clear that Lance has an answer for every challenge that’s presented to him. For now, however, it’s time for the rider in the yellow to join George and figure out the right way to celebrate an unexpected yet momentous victory.

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