Strasbourg, France – America’s Team in cycling no longer is on magazine covers. The backs of the team’s jerseys no longer instill the fear that made cyclists around the world choke on their energy gel. Mention the team’s name today across the U.S. and more people will think it’s best known for documentaries about emus.
But the Discovery Channel cycling team didn’t go away when Lance Armstrong did. It’s back for its second year in the sport and positioning itself to again win a Tour de France that’s the most wide open it has been in years.
“We definitely don’t have another Lance in the team,” Discovery Channel director Johan Bruyneel said, “yet there’s no other Lances on other teams.”
No, but the yellow jersey returned to the Discovery Channel team Sunday. George Hincapie, so long Armstrong’s main domestique he could be his butler in Austin, Texas, sprinted into the overall lead after the second day of the Tour de France.
Hincapie’s two-second bonus points during the 114.6-mile stage around the Alsace region gave him a two-second lead over Thor Hushovd of the French team, Credit Agricole. The Norwegian edged Hincapie by less than a second Saturday in the opening prologue for the yellow jersey, which was unceremoniously covered with blood after a spectator, hanging over a barricade, accidentally slashed Hushovd’s arm with an object about 100 yards from the finish.
This is heady stuff for Hincapie. At 33, he is in his 10th Tour and first time in a yellow jersey. He became the fourth American to wear it in the 93 years of the race following Greg Le- Mond, Armstrong and David Zabriskie, who won last year’s prologue.
“I didn’t really think I’d get it,” Hincapie said. “I thought (Saturday) was my best shot, and I’d have to wait later to get it. But to get it (Sunday) is a little bit of a surprise, and I’m super, super happy about it.”
Hincapie not only didn’t think about it, the yellow jersey wasn’t even planned. However, most stages of the Tour de France have three intermediate sprints in which sprint specialists get bonus seconds for placing in the top three of predesignated sprint distances.
On Sunday’s third sprint in Kehl, a German town across the Rhine from Strasbourg, the peloton had caught a breakaway of seven riders. Hincapie kept his momentum and took third in the sprint, earning him two seconds. When he finished in the pack of the mass sprint finish, all recording the same time, his two seconds gave him the overall edge.
Hushovd’s misfortune benefited Hincapie’s placing. The sprinter held up at the end after his arm starting gushing blood. He was taken to a local hospital and was expected to be fine. Winning the stage was Frenchman Jimmy Casper (Cofidis, France), who in his only two previous Tours finished last.
“I said before we came here we would take every single opportunity we can get because we don’t know what we can take home in Paris,” Bruyneel said.
Three months ago, it didn’t appear Hincapie would put on a Discovery Channel jersey, let alone a yellow one. After finishing an impressive ninth in the Dauphine Libere, on a flat stage during the Paris-Roubaix in April, his handlebars inexplicably broke and hung toward the ground.
Hincapie fell going about 25 mph, separating a shoulder and tearing ligaments. Two months before he was due in France for the Tour, Hincapie sat on the pavement and cried.
The strategy these next three weeks, however, will not be centered on Hincapie. With all other teams pulling their forces around one rider in the General Classification, Discovery enters with four possible GC riders.
After Operación Puerto lopped off the top of the peloton Friday with the departure of suspended co-favorites Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich, a wide-open race is even more up for grabs. Discovery will go after the peloton with four riders: Hincapie; Yaroslav Popovych, 26, from Ukraine, who was named the best young rider of last year’s Tour; Paolo Savoldelli, 33, an Italian and two-time winner of the Tour of Italy; and Jose Azevedo, 32, the Portuguese rider who took fifth here in 2004.
But don’t expect any leaders emerging for a few days, at least not until the next time trial Saturday in the Brittany town of Rennes.With Basso and Ullrich gone, it’s possible that Discovery Channel riders will be in contention with Bruyneel taking his time to decide on his GC rider the last week.
“Everybody wants to see the replacement for Lance, but there really is no replacement for Lance,” Hincapie said. “I don’t know if we’ll see another Lance in our lifetimes. We came here with different ambitions and we came here with a great team. We just want to accomplish those ambitions.”
Today the Tour finally leaves Strasbourg on a 141.9-mile ride to Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg. If you’re interested, be patient. The first serious mountain isn’t until July 12 to Pau in the Pyrenees.
“The less people talk about us, the better,” Bruyneel said. “We’re going to try to be as strong as possible in the last week and hopefully we’re going to be able to pull it off: Be underdogs at the start and winners at the end.”
John Henderson can be reached at 303-820-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
