Cycling over familiar ground — like five trips over 1,872-foot Paris Mountain — may have helped George Hincapie on Sunday.
The Greenville, South Carolina, resident won the road race title at the USA Cycling Professional Championships in his hometown, beating future teammate Levi Leipheimer in the 121-mile bicycle race by 16 seconds.
Paris Mountain? He trains there daily when he's not racing in Europe. (See “That Paris Mountain ascent near Greenville, South Carolina”, Sept. 6, 2006)
You gotta be happy for 33-year-old Hincapie, whose season has been a series of highs and lows.
A leading contender to replace Lance Armstrong within the Discovery Channel team, Hincapie started the season with two wins at Tour of California but his bicycle literally fell apart under him at Paris-Roubaix and he missed several weeks of training with a seriously injured shoulder.
He roared back into the Tour de France with a second place finish in the prologue, then captured the yellow jersey for one day after the first stage. He faded fast, however, finishing 32nd overall.
It's his second win at the US pros, winning previously in 1998 when the race was in Philadelphia.
Leipheimer, team leader for Gerolsteiner, is switching to Discovery Channel on Jan. 1.
Bio information from Velobios; more racing news at VeloNews. Photo by Casey B. Gibson for Medalist Sports; more photos at the US Cycling Pro Championships gallery.
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