JUNIOR NATIONAL CYCLING : Unwilling to Quit, Hincappie Wins 2

George Hincappie showed up in place of Mike Orr for Team Last Minute at Thursday’s team pursuit finals of the U.S. Cycling Federation Junior Nationals at the velodrome in Balboa Park.

Among cyclists, Hincappie is referred to as “The Animal.” But he proved to be more of a machine, showing no signs of exhaustion with 200 meters to go in the 4,000-meter race, then making like a turbo and powering Team Last Minute to a victory of nearly one second over the U.S. World Team.

That was only the first time Hincappie would take over for Orr on the day.

In the boys’ 17-18 division points race, he passed Orr on the home stretch--after nearly 25 kilometers and 75 laps--by catching three breakaway riders who appeared to be primed to earn points for being among the first five to complete the lap. They were points Hincappie needed to erase Orr’s lead of two.

Going into the final turn, it appeared the breakaway riders were too far ahead for Hincappie to even dream of catching them.

“I thought they were too far, too,” Hincappie said.

But Hincappie, huffing and puffing like the other 20 riders in the race, was able to do something the others could not. He dug down and closed a gap of some 20 yards.

As it turned out, he finished the final lap second, which gave him six points for a total of 39. Orr had 35 points with that lap to go and was on Hincappie’s back wheel going into the final turn. But he failed to follow Hincappie into the top five, got no points and finished second.

So Hincappie, a 17-year-old from Farmingdale, N.Y., came up with his second gold of the day and his fourth of the competition (earlier in the week, Hincappie won the individual pursuit and the kilometer). Orr, of Seattle, Wash., settled for the points race silver, but in the morning stood on the stand with Hincappie and received a gold for riding with Team Last Minute Wednesday in the qualifying round and semifinals.

In the final, Hincappie joined Ben Edwards of Goleta, Paul Abrahams of Santa Ana, and Glen Milano of Media, Penn. Abrahams and Milano had some extra incentive. Both rode with the U.S. World Team in April at the Pan-Am games in Uruguay. But at the Junior World Trials in June, Abrahams lost his spot, and last week, Milano found himself on the outside because of a personality conflict with another team member, Eric Harris.

After the race, Abrahams rode past Harris and ribbed him.

“I told him I rocked his World,” Abrahams said.

Harris retaliated with a punch to the head.

“I was in no mood for that,” Harris said. “He didn’t treat me like a fellow person. He rubbed it in. You should always let your cycling speak for you.”

Wednesday, it was Harris doing the talking, saying the World Team--which also includes Mark Hanlon of El Toro, Chris Coletta of Addison, Ill., and Ryan Oelkers of Ramsey, N.J.--would dispose of the last-minute challenge.

“Well, I ate my words,” he said.

Zac Copeland of Rancho Santa Fe took the gold in the boys’ 17-18 sprint by beating the guy, Bill Clay, who beat him at the Junior World Trials in June. Copeland won the first two races in the best-of-three set.

Copeland said he made some tactical mistakes in June that allowed Clay, of Vernon Hills, Ill., to win. This time, he altered his strategy.

Instead of taking the first two laps slowly, Copeland went at an all-out sprint from the beginning.

“He has no endurance but a great sprint,” Copeland said of Clay. “I knew if I could get him sprinting for more than 15 seconds, I would burn him out. That was my strategy.”

Cycling Notes

By winning the sprint and placing second in the points race for girls 13-15, Crystal Waters of San Diego claimed the gold medal in the Omnion, which is a composite of four velodrome events--500-meter time trial, 200-meter flying time trial, sprint and points race. Earlier in the week, Waters placed first in both time trials. She also won the gold in the criterium on Sunday. . . . Jessica Grieco of Emerson, N.J. won two golds in the 10-kilometer points race and the sprint for girls 16-17. They were the third and fourth gold medals for Grieco since Monday. She also won the 2,000-meter pursuit and the 200-meter flying time trial.