The tarmac in Toulouse is baking – it’s 40 degrees Celsius – and the 11th stage of the 2003 Tour de France finished just seconds ago. George Hincapie finishes 88th on the day, but secure in the bunch. I’m standing 100 yards past the finish line, amidst the team buses and a few hundred fans. We watch the first few riders roll past, drenched in sweat looking for their air conditioned refuge.
Fans call out to riders, hoping for an autograph… one from Telekom gives his water bottle to a small boy who doesn’t even realize what’s just happened, two Spanish fans jump with glee when one of them gets the okay to tear the number off their hero’s jersey.
This is the finish line frenzy, and I’ve got both my video and digital-cam firing away as riders pop out of the seething mob around me, only to be swallowed up again in seconds…
Then I see him – it’s George Hincapie, and he’s 10 feet away and coming right by me! Gotta think fast – get his attention, say something intelligent… My heart pounds, and then he’s right in front of me, almost bumping into me –
“George” I choke out, “how about a hello for the PEZ-Fans!”
“Hey, how ya doin’” he says, without missing a beat or slowing down – and then he’s gone.
Wow, I think, that was cool – I just talked to George Hincapie… verrry cool.
Fast forward to this interview, it’s early January and I’m talking with George via phone from his “winter” home in South Carolina. – he’s well into his prep for the 2004 season, and although he’s riding up to 5 hours a day, he says his fitness level is still only a 6 out of 10.
Let’s Talk Distractions
He sounds happy to indulge the curiousity of the Pez… and the conversation is off to a good start – we’re talking Podium Girls – in fact George brings it up…
PEZ: You’re familiar with PezCycling News – so let’s talk about us for a while! How often do you visit PEZ?
George: I think it’s great – I look at it all the time, in fact you’ve had pictures of my girlfriend up there…
PEZ: No way! I was going to ask you about that - I had a sneaking suspicion that she was a podium girl – she’s definitely “Distraction-worthy” – did you meet her on the podium?!
Here’s what we know: Melanie is French but speaks English, she’s from Dijon, and has been enjoying the winter in the South Carolina with a likely future winner of Paris-Roubaix.
George: (laughter) Actually I met her at the Tour. I saw her on the podium, and I’d see her around so we just started talking, and things went from there… and I tried to get her number… but it didn’t quite work out (laughter)
PEZ: How did it finally transpire that you actually got to go out on a date with her?
George: Good question – I asked her to come to our party the last night in Paris, and she did, and from then on, … that was it!
Training For 2004
PEZ: What’s the current status of your training, fitness, and planning for 2004.
George: My training’s going okay, it’s been pretty decent weather here. I started a lot later this year because I went a lot further into the season. [George finished 2003 at the World Championships in October.- ed.] I’m probably about the same level as I’ve been in the past, and once I start doing a lot of intensity I’ll get back pretty quickly. I like to start the season pretty strong, and obviously hit the Spring Classics at 100%.
PEZ: What have you been doing for training so far?
George: I start up in the middle of November. I go to the gym 4 times every 8 days, I do 4 day cycles where I do 2 days in the gym with bicycle, and then 2 days long rides on the road – nothing longer than 5 hours right now. I try to peak in early April, and then July.
Fitness Levels
PEZ: You pros ride at such a high level for most of the year, how “un-fit” do you really get?
George: Well for me personally, I probably put on 10-12 pounds during the winter, so this part of the year is when I try to lose a lot of that weight, not all of it, but I try to get back to a decent weight. But the weight gain is normal and healthy, because we get so skinny during the year that it’s hard for your body to maintain … and you also put on some muscle when you put on weight. And you get used to riding at a heavier weight, so when you lose it and keep some of that muscle, theoretically you should be a lot stronger.
PEZ: What’s your race weight?
George: My Classics weight is about 170 lbs and my Tour de France weight is about 165. (George is 6’3” tall – ed.)
PEZ: Can you palm a basketball?
George: Aah, yeah…?
The Spring Campaign
PEZ: The Spring campaign – we always look to you as the man for the Classics – what’s your program for 2004?
George: I’ll be starting in February, in Italy doing some one day races – Ligueglia, Haut Var, Haribo, then Het Volk, Kurn-Brussells-Kurn, then Paris-Nice, Milan-San Remo, 3 Days of de Panne, and Tour of Flanders and Roubaix. And hopefully those last two races I’ll be 100%.
PEZ: What about Ghent (George won here in 2002) and Liege – will you ride those races?
George: Not sure yet, we’ll see how things go at Flanders and how I’m feeling. I’d like to try Ghent-Wevelgem, but it just depends, and Liege depends on how I feel after Roubaix – if I’m not too tired I’d like to yes…
PEZ: At that time of year, when your racing flat out and at a peak, is your fitness really sensitive to doing a race like Ghent in the middle of the week?
George: Well, I’ve done it before and it’s gone well, but maybe I’ve spent too much energy racing Ghent and it might be better to just conserve and put it all on the line for Roubaix. Just depends on how we feel after Flanders…
PEZ: Lance has said he’s not going to race some of his usual Spring races this year (to spend time with his family). In terms of your support at the Spring Classics, what kind of impact does Lance normally have when he’s not the official leader?
George: We, Lance always expects the best from everybody on the team, and he always brings everybody up to a new level. Even when he’s not at peak form he’s still very strong at a lot of these races. At the same time though, the races are so dangerous, and people take so many risks that it’s almost better if he’s not there, there’s just a lot of nerves,… I think it’s just a safer way to go about the season, so I totally agree with him not doing the races for that reason, and also for the obvious reason of him spending more time with his family…
PEZ: How will Lance’s absence affect how the team approaches the Spring races?
George: It won’t affect us either way really, the approach will be the same… we have a lot of strong guys for the Classics now. And since I missed the races last year, I‘ll have to prove myself before that if the team is going to be backing me 100%.
Let’s Talk … Breakthroughs & Roubaix
PEZ: The importance of your first win – how does it affect your confidence and mental ability to win the next big race… Was your win at Ghent (2002) a “break-through” race for you?
George: Yeah, that was a big race for me. I was very happy to win it, and obviously I want to win more. Once you get that close, the lines between winning and being top 3, top 4, top 5 is … very small… so once you’re at that level there are really small and minute factors that dictate whether you win or not.
PEZ: After the Ghent win, did you have any sort of revelation or thought like ”yep, now I know I can win the big races”? Did you begin lining up at the Classics with a different attitude?
George: Well, yeah… After that Ghent win, when I did Roubaix, I felt like I could win the race, I was very confident… I didn’t win but I thought I could (chuckles). I was super confident that I could win and yeah it did change my attitude a bit, knowing that if you could win at one point, there’s no reason you couldn’t do it again – against the same, guys, same types of people, same types of races…
PEZ: Is it harder to get that first “break-through” win than other wins?
George: It’s hard regardless. Nowadays it’s so hard to win any race in Europe, so it’s just a matter of getting that lucky break, but you also have to have that level of fitness
PEZ: Is there one race that you feel is “yours”, that you really want to win before you stop racing?
George: Definitely Roubaix, yeah! (chuckles) It’s just such an epic race… a battle on wheels, conditions that it’s normally raced in… the pave are so brutal… – there are so many fans and so many people here in the States that follow it… For me those are some of the things that I actually look forward too… I enjoy and I dream about !
PEZ: Do you get “nervous” before Roubaix?
George: A little nervous definitely, there aren’t many races I get nervous for now but I guess some of the World Cups that I really feel I have a chance in I’ll get a little nervous… and the Team Time Trial in the Tour de France (laughter). But they’re exciting kind of nerves definitely…
And finally, about that day in Toulouse…
PEZ: I actually said hello to you at the finish line on Toulouse – do you have any recollection of that?
George: (laughs) … No I don’t… When you come across the finish line at the end of a Tour stage, the only thing you think about is getting to the bus, getting changed and getting a drink – I think that day was really hot too. I’ve seen people that I’ve gone to high school with and I know, but you’re so tired that you say 3 words and you’re… gone – and you think “man – there’s somebody I used to go to school with” – but there just isn’t time, it’s just so chaotic…
Stay Tuned for Part 2 next week of our PEZ-Clusive with George, when we get some dirt on teammate Michael Barry (well, sort of), talk about life in Europe, and what the future holds…
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