You know that Paris-Roubaix is the one spring classic that George Hincapie would like to win. He's often considered among the favorites, but bad luck always seems to ruin his day.
My son and I were watching the race on TV six years ago when Big George literally disappeared from sight when he slipped off the road and into a ditch.
In 2005 he was passed by Tom Boonen with a half-lap remaining in the velodrome.
In 2006, the steering tube on his Trek 5200 crumbled just 28 miles from the finish, leaving Hincapie sidelined with a seriously injured shoulder.
The American cyclist for the High Road team will get another chance this Sunday when the 161-mile race rolls through northern France and Belgium. The 106th anniversary of the race dubbed Hell of the North features more than 32 miles of cobblestones; if it's wet, that's 32 miles of mud as well.
High Road
Brian Holm, the sports director for High Road (which you may recall is now an American-based team after T-Mobile relinquished sponsorship), has been quoted around as saying that he has a lot of talented riders racing on Sunday. Among them, Servais Knaven won Paris-Roubaix in 2001.
“George (Hincapie) is our biggest weapon. You could see when he climbed the Kemmel that easily on Wednesday (in Ghent-Wevelgem) how good his form is. We're very confident about his chances.”
After finishing 5th at the Tour of Flanders, Hincapie was asked by a Versus interviewer about Wednesday's Ghent-Wevelgem:
“Definitely my main focus is Roubaix on Sunday… I don't want to kill myself on Wednesday and spend too much energy there…”
There's a Q&A in VeloNews with Hincapie this morning (Friday) in which he says he'll ride some of the cobbles on Friday and then rest on Saturday. He also told his menu on the bike for Sunday's ride; it includes Mars bars.
Sunday
Check VeloNews and CyclingNews for race updates on Sunday, as well as Cycling.TV. The official website is Paris Roubaix. As hard as it is to fathom, the Versus Cyclysm Sunday broadcast of Paris-Roubaix is delayed until 4 p.m. (ET) Sunday, April 20.
Most of the touts are going with recent winners Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellera. But being the guy who follows his heart, I'm going with Hincapie.
Here's the map:
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