George Hincapie's Lucky Seventeen Bike

Hincapie

George Hincapie will ride into Tour de France history today as he starts his record-breaking seventeenth Tour de France.

Hincapie, who also turned 39 today, was presented with a commemorative SLR01 BMC bike by the company's boss and team owner Andy Riis during their pre-Tour press conference. 

He remains the last American to wear the yellow jersey, and has won one Tour stage on his own, as well as being part of three team time trial victories with the US Postal team.

Should he make it to Paris, he will also equal Joop Zoetemelk's record of finishing 16 Tours.

There will be no new bike for Hincapie in 2013, however, as the New Yorker has announced his retirement at the end of the season.

Hincapie's special edition SLR01

No doubting who the owner is...

...or how many Tours he has started.

Related links

Tour de France 2012: Coverage index

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Nick Bull is an NCTJ qualified journalist who has written for a range of titles, as well as being a freelance writer at Beat Media Group, which provides reports for the PA Media wire which is circulated to the likes of the BBC and Eurosport. His work at Cycling Weekly predominantly dealt with professional cycling, and he now holds a role as PR & Digital Manager at SweetSpot Group, which organises the Tour of Britain.