American George Hincapie took a couple of steps closer to realizing a career-long dream on Sunday but the Discovery Channel rider was pipped at the finish line of the grueling Paris-Roubaix one-day classic.

Hincapie, who has been a teammate of Lance Armstrong's since the early days of U.S. Postal, has twice come close to winning the race known as the Hell of the North - and twice, in 1999 and 2000, he finished in fourth place.

This year the 31-year-old New Yorker grabbed his chance at victory with both hands, getting into the decisive breakaway with all the top contenders with 80km of the 259km race still to go.

Unfortunately, for Hincapie, Belgian star Tom Boonen who rides for the QuickStep team also got into the break.

Hincapie led the 24-year-old Boonen and Spaniard Juan Antonio Flecha, of the Fassa Bortolo team, into the Roubaix velodrome where the finish line is situated. But after a lap and a half of the famous track where the likes of EddyMerckx have sent the crowd into raptures, Boonen clicked into the big gears and launched an unbeatable sprint 200 meters from the line which left his chasers wanting. For Hincapie's Discovery Channel team it was a very respectable performance, ruined only by the presence of Boonen, who came into the race as favorite after his stunning victory in the Tour des Flandres last week.

"We are happy of course. It's the best result ever for us and for George. He rode a great race, very calculated and very smart," Discovery Channel team manager Johan Bruyneel told AFP.

"The team was very good, they were there for a long time until the big break was made and then it was more or less every man for himself. "It's also a little bit of a disappointment, although once those three guys were away we knew that Boonen was the fastest and that it would be difficult.

"I know that nobody is unbeatable, and I had hoped that after his victory in the Tour of Flanders that Boonen might start over-confident and then make a mistake. We had to try, we had to believe in it and I think that George came very close but in the end it was just impossible."

Hincapie, twice fourth and eighth last year, was disappointed. "I gave it my best today and finishing second is still a good performance. But at the end of the day, I still wish I could have won," he said.

Boonen meanwhile affirmed his one-day classics superiority in style, leaving more than one Belgian impressed. Bruyneel, a top Belgian talent before taking over as a team manager and launching Lance Armstrong's Tour de France campaign back in 1999, admitted it will take a big talent to beat his 24-year-old countryman. "For the moment he's (Boonen) the best classics rider around. The way he won Flanders last week was just huge. He's been winning races since the start of the season, including two stages at Paris-Nice and numerous other one-day races including Flanders - so there's certainly no shame in losing to Boonen, although at the same time you have to try." And Hincapie's chances of victory next year? "Well, we just have to stay the same and hope that Boonen doesn't come," added Bruyneel with a smile.