3.02.2005

George Hincapie: Cool American

It warms my heart when Americans do well in Europe but when Georgie wins I get really excited! He was the big man in Ghent a few years ago, was Lance's Hammer at the tour last year and showed those Belgians a thing or two on Sunday. I love it when Americans beat belgians in belgium. I hope he takes the Paris Roubaix in April.

Back in the day George and Jonas Carney were the big guns on the East Coast Junior circut. George was a huge kid even then. My recollection is at 14 he was six feet and 170 lbs. I was a good two years older at 5'2" and 115. At big NJ crits like the Nutley Classic and Tour Of Sommerville George would crush the under 14, crush the under 16, win or place on the podium for under 18 then get top 10 in the Pro 1/2. That's talent no matter how big you are.

Even though Georgie got busted at Corestates for drafting a team car in 97, which i think is very cool, I always heard he was a nice guy. Apparetnly he would split primes with guys that used ot lead him out. The only negative thing i heard is he wasn't too bright at 14. Afriend told me he always mis-spelled "junior" - "junor." I guess he doesn't really care now if he was a great speller.

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