George Hincapie may have helped Lance Armstrong set a historic 7 Tour de France wins, but Hincapie set his own mark when USA Cycling nominated the 35-year-old to the U.S. Olympic cycling squad for an unprecedented 5th time.
Others on the list for men's road cycling are Levi Leipheimer, Jason McCartney, Christian Vande Velde and David Zabriskie.
In all, 21 male and female cyclists were chosen for 24 spots on the team. The other disciplines include track cycling, bicycle motocross (BMX), and mountain bike.
A cool thing for my hometown crowd is that five cyclists from the Pacific Northwest were chosen for the Olympic cycling team.
Hincapie
But the cyclist from Greenville, South Carolina, is certainly the top story from the Olympic team. He's had nothing but good news lately, including the birth of a son, Enzo, and his choice as a member of High Road's Tour de France squad.
As the Beijing Olympics are his fifth trip to the Summer Games, that means he first raced as an Olympian in 1992 in Barcelona, Spain. He was 19 years old. Wow.
Some other familiar names on that team: Lance Armstrong, Bob Mionske (a Portland attorney who specializes in bicycle law), Ken Carpenter, and Rebecca Twigg.
Who else competed at the 1992 Olympics? Chris Boardman, Erik Dekker, Jeannie Longo (she's back representing France as a 49-year-old), and current pros Erik Zabel and Stuart O'Grady.
The US team didn't do particularly well that year, finishing 9th with 2 bronze medals. The US medal winners were Twigg for the 3000m individual pursuit and Erin Hartwell in the 1000m individual time trial.
More roadies
Hincapie will be competing in the road race in Olympics this year. Leipheimer and McCartney competed in 2004 in the road event, while Vande Velde competed in 2000 in track. It is Zabriskie's first Olympic visit.
Leipheimer and Zabriskie also will compete in the individual time trial.
Track
Among the track racers, Taylor Phinney may be the best known. His parents are Davis Phinney and Connie Carpenter-Phinney, but he was chosen for his performance at the UCI Track World Cup Classics in Los Angeles. Taylor will turn 18 before the Beijing Olympics.
Congratulations to all the cyclists picked for the Olympic team. It's quite an honor.
Update: July 11 — Final three names added by USA Cycling. They are Amber Neben (Irvine, California) and Christine Thorburn (Sunnyvale, California) on the road squad and mountain biker Mary McConneloug (Chilmark, Massachusetts). There other are listed below.
Here's the roster available online at USA Cycling:
Men’s Mountain Bike
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