The Loyal Lieutenant

This book is about a man who take a stance and proactively changes a culture bent on destruction of a beautiful and addictive sport. George goes about changing his life to create an atmosphere of freedom from hiding in the shadows. A world that ultimately could have destroyed the one thing that supported and fueled his success-his family. He goes about his business not as an Evangelist with zeal, but leading and teaching by example. This method increased his peers' respect in his talent and leadership 100-fold. His answer to his daughter and son in the final few pages is worth reading, ingesting on many levels. His wisdom and insight are exemplary.

I did not quite know what to think about this book and how it might change what I feel about Hincapie and the role he played in professional cycling over the past 20 years. In fact, I was reluctant to initially purchase it. However, as a close follower of cycling since my own triathlon days in the 1980s and then standing on the Champs Élysées as Lemond rode by in 1990, I was curious about what Hincapie might say about so many stories I had come to know well. Obviously, there was the doping and the history he shared with Lance Armstrong, but then there was also his transition to riding for Highroad and Cavendish and then BMC and Evans and Tejay. I was always curious about his Tour stage win as a 'climber' as well as the other back stories about narrowly missing out on yellow in 2009 and Horner chasing him onto the Champs Élysées as he completed his last Tour. Hincapie illuminated all of these events and added detail and subtlety that allows a better understanding of him. It is so true and tragic how the man who he shared so much with in his cycling career did not internalize a few more lessons from George Hincapie on humility and competing with grace. Lance and George were obviously so different but I guess that is one aspect of their story (and their time together) that is so fascinating. I came away from this book with a better understanding of the choices these guys were faced with and the reasons why some of them made better decisions for themselves and their families when they were faced with such difficult decisions. As a close follower of the sport, I would have liked some more candor about Contador and Bruyneel and a few others, but the scope of the book seems in keeping with the temperament of the man whose story is being told. Chapeau George and good luck with all that comes next...

First, I love the extent that cycling has a reading culture. After-all, cycling as we know it was created by publishers to sell periodicals. Second, I very much enjoy Hincapie in his career post-racing. I’ve followed his development team, clothing line and the establishment of his hotel with great interest. I even sent an email to one of his marketers saying that I enjoyed how easy it was to get the crucial information I needed for his Gran Fondo. He and his associates have brought their “A” game to everything concerning the “Hincapie” brand. So needless to say this book was not just another soul-searching, tell-all book by yet another cyclist. For me, this was a publishing event of life-time importance. Truly epic. Hincapie seemingly has the dual mission of: one, showing that he was a great athlete post-Lance and post-drugs; and two, showing that he did his best to change the sport from within starting around 2005/6. He flies through his early- and Lance-years, and only picks up greater depth through the second half-of-the-book. In fact it’s as if those early chapters are only there to set up what he really wants to talk about—his life post-Lance and post-drugs. Hincapie’s book is a disappointment, especially the first half. He had the might and popularity to attract writers of great talent for help. A Daniel Friebe, perhaps. But he did not, and the writing is overly-simplified and often boring. There is nothing too specific about his drug use or his training or his diet. For instance I read a great article about him once where he said doing intervals at least once-per-week was his key to success. He doesn’t mention the world “interval” in the entire book. He does give the book some great action scenes in through his favorite performances, but there could have been more. Basically, when one finished this book, we will not learn about his training, diet or numerous other aspects of cycling, including historical, what we learn is that he is sorry for doping and that he has had a great career post-Lance. I believe there is more—so much more to Hincapie’s career, and I eagerly await that book.