With the ongoing controversies about drugs, drug labs and drug-enforcement czars, it's easy to forget that most cyclists are still cranking away out there on the blacktop.
One of those is American cyclist George Hincapie, who has taken the lead of the 8-day Tour of Benelux in Belgium and the Netherlands. The Discovery Channel cyclist did it by winning the 10-mile Stage 4 time trial on Sunday.
The leader's jersey in the Tour of Benelux is claret, or red, and Hincapie is proud to wear it. He wore the Tour de France yellow jersey for a day in early July; that seems like years ago.
According to VeloBios.com, the Greenville, South Carolina, resident has finished in second place in four time trials this season — three of them the prologues for Tour de France, Tour of Benelux and Dauphine Libere. Before Sunday, he had won two races, the 2nd and 5th stages of the Tour of California.
On Sunday, he beat Italian Vincenzo Nibali by just one-fifth of a second. In the overall standings, he took the red jersey from Belgian cyclist Tom Boonen and sits three seconds ahead of Stefan Schumacher of Gerolsteiner team.
Other US riders in the Benelux tour are Aaron Olsen of Saunier Duval-Prodir, Jason McCartney of Discovery Channel. Freddy Rodriguez, who suffered a race-ending injury in the Tour de France, started the Benelux tour for Davitamon-Lotto but did not start Sunday's bike ride.
Monday's stage is a flat stage designed for sprinters, while the final two stage Tuesday and Wednesday feature rugged mountain climbs.
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