There was a time when Americans were shut out of the Tour De France. Not because of any rules preventing them from racing, but there was just no interest in the sport. We can thank pioneers like Jonathon "Jacques" Boyer, the first American to enter the Tour De France, or Greg LeMond, the first American to win it, or the motley bunch known as Team 7-Eleven, which was the first American team to race in the tour, a team that included Bob Roll.
In 30 years, Americans have dominated and set new records in the Tour. Americans have won 11 Tour De France races if you count Floyd Landis's victory, which was taken away. Knowing the nature of the beast, I doubt Landis was the only rider in the peloton who was guilty of performance enhancing substances as we have learned the entire peloton is guilty in recent days in a 60 Minutes segment.
We have 10 wins without Landis. Greg LeMond one it first and totaled three when he was done, and of course Lance Armstrong won it seven times.
Now George Hincapie has matched an impressive record. The 38 year old cyclist is riding in his 16th Tour De France, matching a record set by Joop Zoetemelk.
Hincapie originally rode with Motorola back in 1996. He was also part of US Postal and the Discovery Teams, and he won the inaugural Tour of Missouri.
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