Taking the High Road
Eleven-time Tour de France veteran George Hincapie prepares for the next stage
of life
By Maya Payne Smart
While
at home in Gerona, Spain, George Hincapie has many career and personal
highlights to reflect upon. The five-time Olympian is the only cyclist
to be a part of eight Tour de France winning teams. And since turning
pro in 1994, he’s secured national championships, world championships,
and numerous other impressive victories all over the world.
But Hincapie’s voice is most animated when discussing a far less
heralded accomplishment: fatherhood. His precocious three-year-old
daughter, Julia, takes center stage at home where she screeches
gleefully in the background while he tries to conduct an interview.
“She’s talking quite a bit now,” he explains. “She’s a little confused
because she speaks French and English, and we put her in a school here
where they speak Spanish and Catalan.”
Soon, Julia will be joined by another little cosmopolite. Hincapie and
his wife, Melanie, a French model he met when she was handing out
leader jerseys at the Tour de France in 2003, are expecting. The family
divides its time between Gerona and the Upstate, where Hincapie trains
for the grueling races that have earned him a reputation as America’s
premier classics rider.
Although
they won’t return to Greenville until August, after the Tour de France,
the community feels Hincapie’s quiet presence year-round through his
sportswear company, real estate development projects, and philanthropic
pursuits.
Without the entourage and the
attitude that often characterize world-class athletes, Hincapie blends
into the Greenville community easily. Scores of local residents can
describe the time they brushed shoulders with him climbing Paris
Mountain or hanging out downtown. “You wouldn’t know he was a celebrity
by the way he acts” is a common refrain. “When we’re out riding, he
doesn’t talk about what he’s done or who he’s beat; he talks about his
daughter and his wife,” says Glenn Thrift, a local cyclist who directs
the Furman University cycling team and has trained with Hincapie. “He’s
so shy and humble.”
Hincapie inherited humility and good nature from his parents, Ricardo
and Martha. The Colombian immigrants raised their children, George,
Rich, and Clara, in Queens, New York, with a work ethic and character
that left a lasting impression. Ricardo labored in the cargo department
of United Airlines for thirty-four years but still made time to
introduce the children to cycling, a beloved sport in his native South
America. He spent countless hours riding with them in parks that became
a refuge from the cars and traffic that overwhelmed much of the city.
For Hincapie, sports and family have always been intertwined. Growing
up, the children rose before dawn every Saturday and Sunday of the
spring to travel to other New York boroughs for competitions. George
would race his Peugeot at 6:30 a.m. in Central Park in Manhattan or
Prospect Park in Brooklyn before runners reclaimed the land. As a kid
he was obsessed with outworking riders of his own age. The hard
training paid off. He won sixteen medals, ten junior national titles,
and two world medals before going pro.
To this day, he credits his father with setting the tone for his
cycling achievements by passing on a signature mix of amiability and
ambition. But some cycling commentators and enthusiasts have criticized
Hincapie for bringing that friendly demeanor to work in a sport that is
defined by strategic attacks and overzealous fans. Even assaults by
opposing cyclists’ fans who aren’t above hurling curses or litter his
way during races don’t raise his ire much. “People sometimes say I’m
too nice on the bike,” he says. “I feel like I don’t have to hate my
opponent to win; some of the riders are just angry, and they don’t like
their competition, but I’m not like that and I never will be.”
Instead of channeling fury at his rivals, he prefers to repeat
affirmations and do visualization exercises while contending with rough
roads, steep climbs, and frightful weather. “I try to envision myself
winning and try to replay that in my head,” he says. “Or, I think about
how good it feels to be on the podium.” The power of his intention has
led to some results that no one, not even Hincapie, saw coming, like
his dramatic 2005 win in the most brutal stage of the Tour de France.
Hincapie trekked 127.7 miles up six mountain climbs to claim an
unlikely victory at the Pla d’Adet ski station high in the Pyrenees. He
got in position to win by making a strategic move for the benefit of
his team’s captain, Lance Armstrong.
The pair have been friends since they were teenagers, and Hincapie
became the consummate Tour de France teammate, staying with Armstrong
as long as possible, pacing him, shielding from the wind, keeping him
at the front of the peloton, and supporting all of his Tour victories.
“He was the best cyclist I’ve ever been with and one of the best
athletes that we’ve ever known,” he says. “It was great to be a part of
that with him; I learned to be determined and dedicated.”
In 2005, though, Hincapie got a taste of Tour glory for himself when he
joined a breakaway group of cyclists about fifteen miles into the
stage. He made the move so that Armstrong would have a teammate nearby
when he caught up. But Armstrong never took the lead, and Hincapie rode
away with a career-defining victory over Oscar Pereiro after 6 hours, 6
minutes and 38 seconds of leg-punishing climbs.
Now Pla d’Adet has taken on new meaning in Hincapie’s life as the name
of a three-hundred-acre performance village that he and his brother
Rich are developing. Located north of Greenville off Highway 25, the
development is giving runners, swimmers, cyclists, and other endurance
athletes the kind of upscale residential community that was previously
reserved for golfers. A fitting segue into the next stage of his life
as a father and entrepreneur, Hincapie plans to relocate his home and
his business, Hincapie Sportswear, to Pla d’Adet.
In other words, he’s here to stay.
