- HOT TOPICS:
- The new VeloNews.com (BETA)
Saturday's EuroFile: Hincapie focused on Tour; Milram turns to Zabel
Any doubts about George Hincapie’s Tour de France form after an injury forced him to miss nearly two months of racing this spring were erased by a solid 10th-place finish at the Dauphiné Libéré stage race in early June. Hincapie, who suffered a separated shoulder and torn tendons in a crash at Paris-Roubaix in early April, followed his Dauphiné performance by helping his Discovery Channel team power to a second-place finish at last Sunday’s ProTour team time trial race in The Netherlands.
And this week the American, who has been named by Discovery Channel director Johan Bruyneel as one of several possible leaders at the Tour, headed straight to the Alps to scout the key stages of the three-week stage race that begins July 1 in Strasbourg.
Hincapie returned to his European home base in Girona, Spain, on Friday, and said that, despite being derailed by injury, he feels stronger than ever heading into the Tour.
"I’ve concentrated a little bit more on my time trialing and also on my climbing," Hincapie said. "I’ve done all of the [pre-Tour] camps that the team has done. In years past I did either the Alps or the Pyrénées, but this year I did both the Alps and the Pyrénées."
It’s no secret where this year’s Tour will be won, and Hincapie has been concentrating on improving in two key areas. "All of the Alps stages are very hard, we just finished riding them the last couple of days," he said. "They’ll be in the last week of the Tour, so by then all of the riders will be very tired. So I think those three stages are going to be the decisive ones, also the two time trials.
"I’ve been riding my time trial bike several days a week, doing intervals on my time trial bike, just trying to improve my time trialing and climbing," he said. "Every year I seem to get a little bit better at each, so I’m hoping this year I continue in that same line and I’ll be much better in both disciplines."
As for his new mission to shoot high in the general classification, Hincapie said he’s embracing it.
"I’m just looking forward to the opportunity to possibly lead the Discovery Channel team, I’m excited about it," he said. "Of course I dream of [winning] and I believe it’s possible. If not I wouldn’t have been training as hard as I’ve been for the last year. I’ve never been in this situation so I don’t know how I will respond when I’m racing up these big mountains but I’m hoping for the best and I’m working as hard as I can. I know that I can’t be in better shape than I am, so I’ve done everything I need to do."
With the Tour’s start less than a week away, Hincapie said he’ll take things day by day. "This is a new role for me," he said. "But right now I’ve got my eye on the prologue."
Kip Mikler - Editor, VeloNews
Milram banks on Zabel for Tour
In the absence of Italian sprint king Alessandro Petacchi, who is recovering from a broken kneecap, Milram's quest for the Tour de France will be to deliver a seventh green jersey to German veteran Erik Zabel.
Without Petacchi, whose 15 grand tour stage victories in 2003 and nine in the 2004 Tour of Italy are both records, the team will turn to the 35-year-old Zabel, who won a record six consecutive Tour de France green jerseys from 1996 to 2001 before Australians Robbie McEwen and Baden Cooke broke his stranglehold on the competition.
A former T-Mobile teammate of 1997 Tour winner Jan Ullrich, Zabel was not selected for the 2005 Tour as T-Mobile opted to concentrate on Ullrich's overall hopes, prompting him to switch to Milram this season.
"Our aim is to win the points classication and the green jersey," said Zabel, who will be racing his 12th Tour.
Milram for the Tour:Erik Zabel (G)Ralf Grabsch (G)Christian Knees (G)Bjorn Schroder(G)Andrej Grivko (Ukr)Marco Velo (I)Mirko Celestino (I)Fabio Sacchi (I)Maxim Iglinsky (Kaz)—AFP
