June 5, 2005, Prologue: Aix-les-Bains , 7.9km

Discovery Channel's George Hincapie, in ripping form and wearing his trademark Oakleys, is less than a minute into his ride in the 2005 Dauphine Libere prologue.  He is powering up the climb (photo).  He would finish the 7.9km course in 9:55.  But there were dozens of riders left to ride.  None of them, not even Hincapie's teammate Lance Armstrong, riding in his penultimate race as a professional, would beat Hincapie's time though and the American would be the race's first leader.

Hincapie was in the middle of a career season.  Already reaching the Paris-Roubaix podium for the first time in April that year, he'd add a second stage win in the Dauphiné when he and teammate Yaroslav Popovych escaped in the final stage.  He'd go on to win the big mountain stage of the Tour de France, as well as the GP de Plouay.

Hincapie is expected to be one of the Discovery Channel leaders in the 2006 Tour; it is hard to imagine him being asked to sacrifice himself for an unproven new Tour team leader after being the only rider to ride with Armstrong in all 7 of his Tour victories.  But what kind of form is he in after his crash in Paris-Roubaix that knocked him out of competition for over six weeks?

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