George Hincapie sets the new Tour de France appearance record
The American Professional cyclist George Hincapie sets a new record by marking his 17th appearance at the Tour de France.
The cyclist finished the opening prologue of the race at the 22nd position and proved that he still has enough legs to ride the top level of the sport.
"It's great to beat the record. When I was getting on the podium I should have been thinking more about my effort, but I was thinking how incredible it is that this is my 17th Tour".
"I think the keys to getting this far are to take of yourself – and I've had 20 or almost 30 years of doing that – and to feel that you are still enjoying yourself”.
“My priority is to help Cadel and I was honoured to make history last year in helping Cadel become the first Australian to win the Tour de France. Now I want to help him make it two."
He finished 20 seconds behind the race leader Fabian Cancellara and became the first cyclist to mark a maximum number of 17 Tour de France participations under his belt.
The 39-year-old started his professional pursuit with Team Motorola in 19994 and spent a period of three years with the side.
He also ride with Team US Postal (1997-2007), Team High Road (2008-09) and is continuing his third consecutive season with Team BMC through 2010 and 2012 season.
Hincapie is riding through a strong Team BMC squad at the Tour under the reliable leadership of Cadel Evans.
Evans is the reigning Tour de France champion and is a strong podium contender during the 2012 version of the race.
Team BMC currently holds the third overall spot after the stage 1 classifications with a deficit of 6 seconds over the first place holder Team Sky.
Team RadioShack-Nissan is four seconds behind at the second position with Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step and Team Garmin-Sharp holding the fourth and the fifth positions respectively.
Team BMC squad for the Tour de Franc 2012:
Marcus Burghardt (Ger), Steven Cummings (GBr), Cadel Evans (Aus), Philippe Gilbert (Bel), George Hincapie (USA), Amaël Moinard (Fra), Manuel Quinziato (Ita), Michael Schär (Swi) and Tejay Van Garderen (USA).
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