| | By George Hincapie
Special to ABC Sports Online
Greenville, S.C.'s George Hincapie rides for the United States Postal Service team, and played an integral part in Lance Armstrong's victory in the Tour de France in 1999. He is a two-time winner of the World Road Cycling Championship, and was ranked 50th in the world last year. Throughout the Tour de France, Hincapie is sharing his experience through the eyes of a key member of the defending championship team.
BRIANCON, France -- Saturday's stage was unbelievably long and very difficult -- eight hours and 20 minutes or something like that. There were four big mountain climbs. It actually rode pretty easy for the first three and a half hours or so. The first climb went over pretty easily, then there was a long valley going into the next climb where all the attacks started coming.
We just tried to control the tempo all day. There was a pretty nasty headwind throughout, so it wasn't easy. It seemed like every team in the field attacked us at some point.
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Lance Armstrong would like to further distance himself from Jan Ullrich (above). |
When we finished the first big climb, we still had our entire team together, which was key because the attacks just kept coming. The group was about 50 guys at this point, and we were definitely the only team with all of its members together in it. It gave us a pretty good advantage.
There was a break-off in the next climb, but we kept it close and stayed out of trouble -- within four minutes. At the bottom of that, we had Tyler (Hamilton) and Kevin (Livingston) do some tempo up front. Lance ended up finishing with a group of eight or nine guys -- mostly the top contenders. Three or four guys broke a little before him, but nobody threatening.
When preparing to ride for eight and a half hours through three huge mountains, you just eat as much as you possibly can beforehand. Any way you go about it, it's going to be really difficult, as Saturday certainly was. By the end of the race, you just feel completely dead. Everybody in the field is completely drained right now.
I think as a whole, our team is the strongest in the field condition-wise. We're the only team with numbers at the end. There's definitely some strong teams out there -- Kelme and Banesto -- but we do have the leader of the race, so it is our responsibility to stay with them as long as we can.
Lance is kind of hanging near (Jan) Ullrich right now, but he'd actually like to put more time on him if he gets the chance. When you've got the yellow jersey, however, you have to play a bit of a defensive role. You want to resist going on the attack and make sure your primary rivals are kept at a safe distance.
Sunday's stage is much shorter than Saturday's, but there's another three big mountains, so it's going to be another difficult one. Hopefully, we'll wake up in the morning feeling recovered and able to come back strong.
Find out about George Hincapie's "Tour de Café," a line of specialty-roasted coffees with proceeds benefiting the Lance Armstrong Foundation on his web site at www.hincapie.com/2000tdf.html.
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Stage Fourteen results
Hincapie Diary No. 9
Hincapie Diary No. 8
Hincapie Diary No. 7
Hincapie Diary No. 6
Hincapie Diary No. 5
Hincapie Diary No. 4
Hincapie Diary No. 3
Hincapie Diary No. 2
Hincapie Diary No. 1
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 Santiago Botero sticks his chest out with pride as he crosses the finish line.
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 Lance Armstrong is optimistic on who will win the Tour de France.
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Stage 14 course map
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