George in 2006!

No, we're not talking about Bush. Wally loved this morning's NYT article on George Hincapie, Lance Armstrong's faithful lieutenant who is gunning for this year's Tour de France:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/26/sports/othersports/26cycling.html?_r=1

(Wally has way too much time to read. He should be helping with the construction of the attic or mowing the lawn.)

George placed 14th in last year's Tour, so he's not a total long shot, but questions abound. Is he too nice? Can he climb the insane mountains of the Tour - on a daily basis? Can he time trial (the so-called race against the clock)? Will the team be as unified as it was in support of Lance, even though there are riders who also have the talent to win the Tour? On the latter point, Wally wants to make sure that Team Discovery doesn't end up like last year's T-Mobile squad, which eerily resembled the Red Sox of the 1980's in their individual focus.

Wally and his posse are off to watch the Duke-VA Tech game. By the way, the Duke women's team DESTROYED the Tennessee Volunteers on Monday. How about both Duke teams in the Final Four?