News came in recently of George Hincapie’s ‘exciting new cycling project’, the Modern Adventure Cycling Project.

“I’m very excited, nervous, anxious, to be embarking on this project and most of all, very passionate to be starting what we feel like could be a renaissance of American cycling,” Hincapie said.

Unveiling the team last Thursday, Modern Adventure Pro Cycling said on its website it had assembled “a bold group united by talent, grit, and a shared vision for the future of the sport.”

“From seasoned pros to rising stars, each rider brings their own rhythm and story to the peloton.”

Well you sure do George, as does Bobby Julich, the new team’s Performance Director, who left a position at Team Jiffy-Sky after ‘revealing’ he too doped when a pro. The blurb trundled on, like one of those wooden carts in the days of the Black Plague, loaded high with corpses :

“Together, they represent a new kind of cycling team: one built on purpose, camaraderie, and the belief that progress happens when you ride for something bigger than yourself.

“This is the roster shaping the next chapter of American cycling.”

At which point, after you’ve done retching, you feel like pointing out that you, George and Bobby, first of all, rode solely for yourselves, and did heavily shape a previous chapter of American cycling, leaving it nearly dead on the back of said cart.

Casualties along the way were Greg Lemond’s business and standing in the sport and Betsy Andreu’s reputation.

And you want to do what now? To build a team and get into the TdF in 5 years. The barefaced cheek of you lads! I’d almost say ‘fair play’ to yeez if you weren’t such a pair of – well, let’s say it in a way that cannot be argued against – cheats.

[I’m adding in here below a chunk from an article I wrote years ago, because it is spot on and pertinent.]

Hincapie was a pro rider from 1994 to 2012. He rode for Motorola, US Postal, Team High Road and BMC Racing.

He won Gent-Wevelgem and was national road race champion of the USA three times over his 18 year career. He came close in a big Classic or two (one being the infamous 2006 P-R when George missed a turn, then cheated (proven) to go around train barriers in a forlorn chase of Cancellara), and he also finished 17 Tours de France.

He is more famous of course as being, for much of his career, Lance Armstrong’s faithful domestique, secondly for a fully committed doper for (according to him) at least a decent chunk of his career.

He was doped good too, by the best. The very best. But them who can resist a Ferrari?

Whereas his former team leader received a lifetime ban for using illicit substances, George got a 6 month ban thanks to ‘co-operating’ with the federal investigation into US Postal and Discovery.

‘Co-operating’.

Funny how people ‘co-operate’ when they could potentially be facing a prison sentence for perjury if they fail to ‘co-operate’.

And so, once his ban ended, George retired.

Before he retired though, Hincapie was afforded the luxury of leading the peloton onto the Champs Elysees in his 17^th and final, record-breaking Tour de France.

A fairytale ending in every sense.

Except that, well, by October the following year, 2012, George, whom had stayed clear of doping accusations more or less throughout his career, ‘admitted’ to having doped for many years.

“It is extremely difficult today to acknowledge that during a part of my career I used banned substances,” read George’s statement at the time.

Not difficult for us to acknowledge tho, old boy.

“Early in my professional career, it became clear to me that, given the widespread use of performance enhancing drugs by cyclists at the top of the profession, it was not possible to compete at the highest level without them. I deeply regret that choice and sincerely apologize to my family, teammates and fans.”

You could have quit George, as many very good young pros I personally know did – or, maybe band together with others to make a stand? I mean, either way – neither are easy, but at least you’ve proven that crime does in fact pay – and you got a new team out of it and a chance to return to the Tour – bless.

Matt Cooke’s take on things always comes to mind: “You would never know their names if they hadn’t taken drugs.“

And yet, what George doesn’t seem to realize is that ‘that choice’ was one he made every single time he pushed the needle into the vial and every time he consulted with his calendar to work out when to juice.

This is something that just about every doper tries to do: to claim that they came to a point where they had to make a choice, and that once that terrible, shocking moment came and they decided ‘I will dope’ – there was no turning back.

I feel sorry for them, I do, these poor guys who had to dope, had to deprive honest riders from a living, had to collect salaries, prize money, adulation and admiration from the fans, and then retire to nice houses in beautiful places.

One of the many problems I have with the Legend of George is that he went on dragging the sport through the mud and breaking records when he already knew the guillotine was being sharpened.

In his statement about his doping past, released in October 2012, he wrote:

“Three years ago [2010], I was approached by U.S. federal investigators, and more recently by USADA, and asked to tell of my personal experience in these matters. I would have been much more comfortable talking only about myself, but understood that I was obligated to tell the truth about everything I knew. So that is what I did.”

“Obligated” to tell the truth. Forced might be far more apt.

Anyway, George therefore knew for at least his last two Tours de France that he would, at some point very soon, be outed for doping. He knew it was coming, and yet he carried on regardless, taking in the accolades and leading the peloton into Paris with an EPO-eating grin on his face.

I asked Hincapie in an interview years ago, why he didn’t retire in 2010, when he knew the truth would out eventually.

“Because I had been racing clean since 2006,” he replied. “Helping others win some of the biggest races in the world. I still had a lot to give to my teammates and cycling.”

And what of those who believe that he had a greater responsibility to bow out of the sport immediately, and that those who have been caught doping should not be involved again in any way with the sport?

“Everyone has a right to their opinions,” he replied. “I am just trying to help young riders make it to the next level. Cause I believe in cycling and love cycling and want to give back to the sport.”

In an interview after his career ended in Paris, in front of an adoring public, he spoke about how he’d conducted himself in his career.

“I’ve always tried to do the right thing for the sport. Right now I’m here to do my job and I’m going to try and focus on that.”

No George, you haven’t always tried to do the right thing for the sport.

You did the right thing for George. Always. In Armstrong you had the perfect mentor for that, too.

And the sport got screwed every which way, regardless.

In his statement where he reacted to his ban, he wrote:

“While I understand that the choices we made were wrong, I understand why we made them and why, at the time, we felt justified in making them. I do not condemn Lance for making these choices, and I do not wish to be condemned for the choices I made.”

Lots of we there.

One issue here is that George made the same choice as the person he cannot condemn, so…

It’s 2025, almost 2026, and we still have people who brought the sport to its knees heavily involved within it.

Doesn’t cycling deserve more?