George Hincapie - 16 Tour finishes

George Hincapie at the team bus after finishing his 16th Tour de France ©RoadCycling.co.nz

Urged on by overall winner Bradley Wiggins and his team, Hincapie led the peloton onto the Avenue des Champs-Élysées near the end of the 120km final stage.

"I'm actually really good friends with a lot of the Sky guys and I would have liked to have been a little bit more low key about it," Hincapie said.

"But they were asking me to do it. So I went ahead and did it and it was a real honour for me to lead them into Paris."

In what is likely his final Tour after announcing he will retire next month, Hincapie finished 38th overall in his 17th appearance.

The American did not finish his first Tour in 1996 but he reached Paris in each of his next 16 consecutive starts, a record.

Hincapie's 16 finishes match that of Dutchman Joop Zoetemelk (1970-1973, 1975-1986).

He registered a career-best 14th overall in 2005 while winning his only Tour stage the same year.

He wore the yellow leader's jersey for one day in 2006 and helped three riders win a total of nine Tour de France titles: Lance Armstrong (1999-2005), Alberto Contador (2007) and Evans last year.

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